The Devil and Me
by acochran5
Summary: Natsu is a regular student with a girlfriend, average grades and nothing interesting has ever happened in his life. Then one day a strange boy appears in his bedroom claiming to be an Incubus named Zeref. This Incubus is also bored with his life. So, he's decided he wants to give love a try. Unfortunately for Natsu he's the demons' first test subject! Zeref x Natsu! Nalu COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**WARNINGS: There are some suggestive themes here and while nothing quite of that nature ever happens if that bothers you please read no further as there will probably be a lot of talk. I've decided to rate this T but the rating may go up later (I don't think so but maybe). There will be some violence probably, and cheating. This is a yaoi, boy x boy with one being a supernatural being. A Zeref x Natsu fanfic. If you don't support this couple don't read any further. Maybe abuse, (but very minimal). If other warnings come up later I will be sure to address them but that is all I can think of at this moment.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail.**

* * *

It was a normal Sunday morning. I woke up at 8:30 and went downstairs to have some breakfast. Me and Lucy had a date planned today, and I was excited for it, even if it meant picking her up, which probably meant coming face to face with her scary father.

At about noon I left to pick her up, getting in the car and driving to her house. When I arrived I parked in the driveway and slowly got out. Standing beside Lucy house always made me feel so tiny, but I ignored the feeling and walked up bravely to her house and rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" I heard a sweet melodious voice from inside and soon Lucy came to the door, flinging it open. She stood in a white, flowing dress that went to her knees and was covered with flowers of all shapes and colors. Her hair was down just brushing her waist and her lips were glossy. She smiled, white teeth revealing themselves as she stood on tip-toe and kissed me lightly. I was glad this was what greeted me and not the image of her glaring dad.

I did the same back to her and pulled away, smiling. "Good afternoon, Lucy." I said.

"Good afternoon to you too. You ready to go?" I nodded.

"Yes, come on."

"Do you have somewhere in mind?" I nodded again and she giggled. "It's hot when you know what you're doing." She teased, smirking. I blushed red,

"Thanks I guess." I mumbled. I had decided to take her to a nice restaurant. Affordable, mind you, but nice.

"Your very welcome." She said, climbing in the front seat next to me. "So, where're we going?" she asked after a few minutes of silence. I glanced at her before gluing my eyes back to the road.

"We're going to this place called Yajima's. It's supposed to be pretty nice."

She nodded. "I've heard of that place before." she said right as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Here we are." I said and hopped out of the car. Lucy opened her door as well and we both went into the restaurant where we sat down to order.

"Wow, they look like they've got a lot of good things to eat here." Lucy said, her eyes wide and sparkling softly. I chuckled and nodded,

"Well, it is one of the top restaurants in the area." Lucy smiled and nodded.

"I can see why." They both looked over their menus until the waiter came back. They placed their order and started waiting for their food. Lucy fiddled with the napkin on her lap and I thrummed my fingers on the table. "So, has anything new happened in your life lately?"

I shook my head no. "No, nothing new is going on." I said. Nothing ever was. My life was probably the most boring life on Earth, with average grades, average activities, average habits. The only real people who spiced up my life were my friends and Lucy, and they couldn't be with me every moment of every day. Without them, I'd just sit at home making a couch potato out of myself. "You?"

Lucy sighed, "Yes, actually. I… I applied for Stanford and… I got in." she said, and smiled slightly, shyly, unsure if I would be happy or not. I was surprised, actually and I guess she could tell because she giggled and said, "Don't look so shocked." Accusing me playfully.

"Stanford?" I asked, not able to believe it. My girlfriend was the most amazing girl in the world, wasn't she? "That's… that's great!" I cried.

"Yes but… it would mean I have to live half a world away from you." She said, frowning. I had not thought of this dilemma either and frowned along with her.

"Oh… I hadn't thought of that." I said softly. "But… it's a great opportunity, isn't it?"

"The best." Lucy said, her eyes sad. "But I don't want to leave you either. You know long-distance relationships don't do well."

"I trust you Lucy." I said and she sighed.

"Maybe you do now, but once I leave you'll start to wonder who I'm talking with, what I'm doing, blah blah blah, and I'll wonder that about you too! Natsu, I know you're a good-looking guy." She said, "And we only met last year… it wouldn't be hard for us to lose trust, or for us to break trust." She said.

"Lucy…"

"Natsu… listen, I don't want to talk about this right now, school just started up again a month ago okay, we've got all the time in the world to think about it, so let's just be happy right now." I was silent for a while but slowly I nodded.

"Alright Lucy." I said. "Let's be happy." She smiled, her face looking relieved.

"Good." She said with a sigh. "I'm glad you feel that way too."

"Well, you're right. We have a long way to go." I said with a shrug. "There's no use worrying about it now, and we've got time to think about it, right?"

"Right, totally." Lucy said with a small laugh and then everything went silent. Thankfully the waiter came soon after that with the food and set it down in front of us. So, then the two of us didn't have to talk and could just eat our own respective meals in a slightly awkward silence.

"I had a nice time today, Natsu." Lucy said, still smiling. I nodded.

"Yeah, Me too, Lucy. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes." She smiled one last time, "Bye, Natsu." She said and closed the door.

"Bye…" I said softly before turning around and walking back to my car and driving home. I opened the car door and went inside and up to my room. Groaning I sat down and did my homework for the rest of the evening, ate dinner and then went back upstairs, changed into my pajamas, and flopped down on the bed thinking about my situation with Lucy. I couldn't help but think about it. There would tension in our relationship now, I knew there would be.

"What's the matter?"

"I think my girlfriend and I might be breaking up." I grumbled and stayed silent. Everything was still for a few moments before I realized I just talked to someone in my bedroom and bolted upright. The man was tall with hair and eyes but that's all I registered before my gaze went to his horns and tail. My mouth dropped open. It couldn't be, but it certainly looked like it.

There was a demon in my bedroom, standing right in front of me. I blinked at it and slowly backed up until my back hit my bedroom wall. "Am I dreaming?" I asked cautiously, blinking.

"No." he said, a sly smile tugging at his lips. I furrowed my eyebrows,

"What are you?" I asked, though it was fairly obvious what it was, I just wanted to make sure in case someone took off fake horns and revealed themselves to just be a wierdo, dressing up as a demon, to freak me out… for some odd reason. But I'd rather believe that than believe there was an actual demon in my room. He kept inching forward slowly, as if he didn't want to scare me,

"Isn't it obvious? I'm an incubus." He said. I frowned, not knowing that word.

"Is that some kind of curse?" he looked incredulous and then smirked,

"How innocent." He said. "An incubus is a form of demon." He explained. "And I suppose I'm here to steal that innocence from you." I rolled my eyes. Steal my innocence? What was he, a million years old?

"I think you've already done that." The said demon crossed his arms still looking like he wanted to devour my soul.

"Oh really? How so?"

"I've had the extreme displeasure of seeing your face." I mocked. Of course it was a mock, just to show him he didn't scare me. He was actually extremely beautiful.

"Perhaps my beauty is just too outstanding for you boring humans to see." He said and in an instant he was beside me and I felt his tongue against my ear. I didn't know if I was supposed to hate it or not, but I did. I shoved him away with a cry of surprise.

"The hell! What do you think you're doing!" I cried rubbing my ear, still feeling the sticky outline of saliva. "That's disgusting, dude!" continuing to rub.

"Most people like that." He said amusedly. I glared at him,

"What're you even doing here?" I asked, grumbling my distaste.

"Hm? Didn't I tell you? I want to steal your innocence. I've been watching you for a while now, and I was bored, so I've decided to make you love me. Then when I get bored I'll show you what it means to associate with an Incubus like me." I snorted. This guy said it like he was going to have no trouble getting me to fall in love with him even though he already disgusted me.

"Don't Incubus' just… you know."

"Do tell." He said smirking at me. The tips of my ears went pink at such thoughts. "Hm, cute." He said sitting up. "As I said, I was bored. Sure it's easy to make humans want me, I mean, who wouldn't." his smirk widened as he gave me a pose as to show off his supposedly amazing body.

What I didn't expect, was for him to actually look good. He was pale, with smooth ivory skin and yes I could see his abs and they were pretty hot… yeah, I'm not gonna take it back. I had never really heard of an incubus before, but judging from his skimpy outfit, I could tell what it was and what they were supposed to do. (I'm not a total idiot). Dark hair, hanging down loosely on his face. Dark eyes that bore into my soul, searching, wanting, hungry, and confident. "Like what you see?" he whispered to me softly and I flushed red.

"Well considering your body is obviously designed to make me attracted to you I obviously am, so you can't really blame me for thinking your hot." He shrugged and twirled, tail swishing around him. I could practically see EVERYTHING!

"I guess I can't." he said. I was still blushing and said,

"Can you please not wear that." He laughed, a mocking kind of laughter.

"Trying to get me naked already? And I thought this would be challenging."

"That's not what I meant." I said, scowling. "Your outfit makes me… nervous to say the least. Wear something decent for heaven's sake, you look like a slut."

"Well." He said that smirk never leaving. "Thank you." I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd take that as a compliment.  
"I'm not sure my clothes will fit you." I said, taking out jeans and a T-shirt. "But it's better than what you have."

"Hm? But what's the difference?" he whined. "No one can see but you… unless I want. And I'd never let anyone but you see me like this. If I wear these things." He gave my clothes a distasteful look. "I can't guarantee you'll be all mine! I might have the urge to-."

"Shut up, and put them on." I ordered in a no-nonsense tone. He, for the first time, glared at me.

"You can't order me around little boy." The demon hopped up and he was in front of me in a flash, playful demeanor darkening slightly. I fought to keep my expression stern and not let fear or worry shine through the mask.

I felt him grab my wrists and pin them above my head. I struggled weakly, but I was no match for him. He ran his hand up my chest and pinched my cheek, hard. "Don't let coy smiles and flirtatious giggles fool you. I could make you mine any time I wanted. I'm CHOOSING to have fun and make you love me, but that game could change very quickly if you're difficult." I couldn't help it and whimpered.

His expression was dark for a few moments longer but soon that smirk slowly returned and he let go of my cheek in favor of kissing the reddened flesh lightly. "I'll wear what I want." He said. "But…" he waved the T-shirt and jeans in front of me. "I suppose I can indulge you."

I didn't know why he decided to indulge me or if he felt bad for being mean, but either way I didn't complain and nodded. "Why did you decide to bother me?" I asked him.

"I felt like it. You're interesting. Rude and demented with a head full of pink hair of all things. And it's NATURAL!"  
"You've been stalking me for a long time." I commented, this only confirming my suspicions that he was a lot older than he looked.

"Yes, I have, it was fun. Oh, and of course your cute." I blushed slightly, I couldn't help it. I was being called cute by this totally hot guy, demon or not.

What surprised me most however, was that I considered him attractive at all. I was a guy too and well… I thought I was straight. Maybe I am, and it's just this stupid demon and his unnatural features. Both feminine and masculine at the same time, a very odd combination making me hot and bothered. "Well… you probably already know this too, but I've got a girlfriend." I said, frowning. I couldn't get mixed up with this guy. What would Lucy think?

"Oh her? She won't be a problem. I'm way hotter than her." I raised an eyebrow. It was true, but he didn't have to be so blunt. And Lucy was still beautiful. It was just that this guy was like a God of Beauty. "You'll dump her. In a month at the very most, but probably within a week or two."

"And why would I dump the most important person in my life?"

"What do you mean why?" he looked generally confused. "You'll want me of course."

"You're really full of yourself, aren't you?"

"How can I not be when every time I look in the mirror I'm blinded by my own beauty." He said, stripping out of his former clothes (it didn't take long). Basically just a vest that hid almost nothing, and a black… well, speedo. My eyes refused to go any lower than his shoulders and I stared intently at one spot of skin to keep from getting curious and banishing thoughts like, "It's okay, we're both guys". Not when that said guy was trying to court you for some odd reason.

Finally, I saw him slip his shirt on and relaxed slightly. He was clothed now, properly. "So, are you going to often get mad?" I asked, a little afraid to.

"Should I? Do you find it hot? Sexy?"

"Scary." I admitted.

"Hm, well I suppose that's normal. So, you're not a masochist, how unfortunate." He sighed and grinned. "Sorry about earlier, I just get mad when people think they can tell me what to do. Sadists have tried, but I put them in their place, and soon I'm dominant. The demons always are." I frowned.

"So…"

"I like it when humans ask me nicely for things. I'm more willing to oblige that way."

"I see…" I mumbled quietly.

"You found me scary, did you? That's cute. Do I have to kiss and make it all better? I'm more than willing." I scowled and shook my head no.

"Aw, how boring. Are all teenagers as boring as you? I bet they would let me bang-."

"Shut up!" I cried, red in the face. "And get out of my room…" I saw his eyes flash. The first line had made his smirk widen, probably because he knew I was saying it out of embarrassment, but added with the second line, it made it sound more angry.

Warning danced in his eye, so after a few moments I added… "Please." He seemed to think about it for while, his brows furrowed in concentration, making a beautiful visage. Pale fingers thrummed on his leg, "If you let me kiss you." He said. I wrinkled my nose in distaste. He thought I'd let him feel me up that easily?

"I don't think-."

"Just a kiss." He interrupted. I growled under my breath, angry at him for cutting me off.

"… Okay." I muttered after some thinking. Anything to get away from this stupid demon. In a flash I was pressed up against the wall his lips on mine, ferociously tugging and sucking. I realized he must've been holding back. "You have a girlfriend." I reminded myself, but I felt myself being overcome like I was drugged, or drunk. Cold yet warm and his lips were so smooth. I wanted to melt into puddy at his feet yet I knew that was exactly what he wanted from me, and something I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of having. Plus, if I fell too soon, he might get bored and leave.

"So cute." He muttered kissing down my neck, sucking vulnerable places. My breath hitched and I tried to hold back moans.

"You said just a kiss." I breathed, panting with effort to get the words out because all I wanted to do was bury my face in his neck to hide the not-so-subtle moans now coming from me as his hands found my hips.

"I lied. I am a demon after all." I had to stop. I was underaged, and didn't want it, not really. If I was in the moment I'd go after anything, but I didn't want to be with him, didn't want to go all out with him (even if he was incredibly hot). I pulled back, gasping and pushed him away to give myself space and time to recover.

"That felt good." He mumbled and smirked at me. "You wanted me to leave, didn't you?" he asked. I fiddled with my pajama shirt and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Aw, you won't let me sleep with you?"

"No way in hell, creeper." I said and hopped on to the bed. He pouted and dramatically sighed,

"Such cruelty my dear Natsu, but fine, be that way if you wish." He said and I almost forgot to ask, but I posed my question just in time, thankfully.

"Wait! I um… I never caught your name, and I figured if you're going to try to make me love you like a creep, I should know your name."

"My name, huh?" he wondered amusedly. I hopped on to my bed and nodded.

"Yes."

"It'll require payment." He said, that devilish grin making it's way across his face. I groaned, but I wanted to know the hotties' name. So, I agreed, not knowing what I was agreeing to. He refused to tell me.

"Zeref, my name is Zeref." He said and struck a pose. "Cute, huh." I supposed I agreed, it was a good name.

"So, what do I have to do?" I asked.

"Sleep with me." He said and licked his lips. He must've noticed the fear in my eyes as panic hit me like a tidal wave because he said, "Not like that. I want to make you love me, remember. Just let me cuddle you." It was a surprisingly tender request, considering what had happened earlier and how ferocious he'd been. And it wasn't as if I really had a choice so I agreed he could sleep with me. The lights turned off and I had never felt more scared in my life as I felt him crawl into bed next to me and wrap his arms around my midsection.

I couldn't help but stay awake for a long time, listening to his breathing. I didn't know if demons slept but when I thought he was asleep I wriggled out of his grip and scooted as far away from him as possible. Slowly I could feel myself getting sleepy and eventually I closed my eyes and let sleep come.

When I opened my eyes again I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I was so tired but it was a Monday and I had to get up to go to school. Slowly, the night before came back to me, making me roll over, frowning. No one was beside me. "A dream…" I mumbled to myself, sitting up. A weird dream. I shivered when I thought about it. The funny thing was that I remembered the dream very clearly. But that demon still terrified me. Even if he'd been totally hot.

That was another thing. I shouldn't be thinking about all that when I had a girlfriend. A girlfriend who I was perfectly happy with, a beautiful girlfriend. One guys would kill to have. I sighed and hopped out of bed, quickly stripping out of my clothes and pulling on my school uniform.

Nothing seemed out of place in my room, I didn't see anything to suggest someone else but me had been here, so I figured that incubus thing had been a dream, which was funny, because I didn't even know what that was though… I suppose I did now.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 8:00. It took me twenty-five minutes to get to school so I was probably going to be late. I hurriedly rushed down the stairs and grabbed my backpack before hopping on my bike and peddling my way to school.

Hurriedly I rushed through the school's halls, trying to find my first class. I heard the final bell ring and groaned. I was late, my teacher was going to kill me. "I'm here!" I cried, bursting through the door. It seemed I'd walked in in the middle of Ms. Strauss' lesson. "Natsu, please sit down, you're late!" Ms. Strauss said, sending me an exasperated look. I hung my head in shame,

"Sorry Ms. Strauss." I said softly and quickly hurried over to my seat. I sat down and sighed, bored already and only half-listening. So, I occupied my time with staring out the window.

"You shouldn't stare out the window when the teacher is giving you a lecture." A voice behind me made me jump and whirl around. I saw the dark-haired boy from last night, horns, tail, and all. My mouth dropped open as I stared at him, yet no one else seemed to be aware of his presence.

"You can't be here." I hissed as quietly as I could. The demon floated through the air in the position someone took when lounging on the couch.

"Why not?" he asked.

"You're distracting me, do you want me to fail this class?"

"Well from all your C grades I assumed you were already failing. Us demons don't know much about human customs but I do know that C comes after A and B in the alphabet. Now, if they used the whole alphabet that would be pretty good… but they don't use the whole alphabet." He smirked, "Do they?"

I glared at him and the kid behind the demon gave me a questioning look. I realized he probably thought I was glaring at him. My scowl disappeared and I smiled sheepishly at him. "Go away, you jerk." I growled. He pouted,

"How come? I don't want to go!"

"Now that I've spoken of what your homework this week will be, let's take attendance." Ms. Strauss said, smiling. I paled slightly. She had been explaining our homework? I was so gonna fail.

"This is your fault." I whispered harshly. Zeref shrugged and giggled mischievously.

"Is it? Because I heard every word she said. Perhaps your just not that great at multi-tasking."

I growled at him. "Mr. Black?" Ms. Strauss asked, peering around the classroom. "Has anyone seen Mr. Black. He's a transfer student and today's his first day… I do hope he didn't get lost." She mumbled to herself.

"Oops, that's my cue." Zeref said and he disappeared in a puff of black smoke. I scowled and rolled my eyes. Good riddance, at least he was gone now.

"Sorry I'm late!" I watched as another student came crashing through the door and for the second time that day my mouth dropped open. The dark-haired boy smiled apologetically.

"Ah, Mr. Black, it's alright. It probably took you awhile to find the classroom. Perhaps a student would like to show you around during break period."

"That would be wonderful… but I don't really know anybody…" the demon in disguise gazed around the classroom until his eyes settled on Natsu.

"Oh, Natsu! I didn't realize you'd be here." He exclaimed and I internally groaned.

"Oh, you know Mr. Dragneel? Well perhaps he'd be willing to give you a tour of the school." Ms. Strauss said, smiling. "What do you think Natsu?" she asked pleasantly.

"Sure." I said, trying to keep my voice cool and nonchalant but on the inside I was burning from anger.

"Please take the empty seat there." She said, pointing. "And please, make Mr. Black feel welcome everybody."

"Yes Ms. Strauss!" All the students exclaimed the boys excited to have a potential friend, and the girls eyeing him like a piece of candy, no doubt thinking him hot. Everyone in class seemed to like him so far, except me that is.

By the time the last bell rang I had had a thoroughly exhausting day. One that had included showing Zeref around the school while he made overly suggestive implications. Grabbing my hand whenever he could and smiling at me.

Apparently, all the Incubus knew how to do was flirt and if his goal was really to get me to love him instead of outright stealing my innocence he was failing rather miserably.

"Natsu!" unfortunately, Zeref was still following me around like a lost puppy and I knew that voice.

On a normal day I would be overjoyed to see Lucy after school considering we didn't talk much in class since we didn't sit together, and today I was showing stupid Zeref around the school. So, I hadn't seen her all day.

I turned around to see the blonde running up to me, a beautiful smile on her face. She threw her arms around my neck and planted a kiss on my lips. I enjoyed it, of course I did, but then I remembered how I'd let Zeref kiss me last night and I felt guilty.

She pulled back from me large brown eyes glittering with happiness. "Who's this?" she asked. I shook Zeref's grip a few times so his hand slid off mine.

"Just the new kid."

Zeref pouted, "Just the new kid? How mean, Natsu! After all we've been through together!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, all you've been through together? Did something happen?" her glossy plump lips were down-turned and her perfectly trimmed eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

"We used to date." Zeref said bluntly and Lucy looked like she choked on her own spit. "Don't act so surprised, it's rude." I glared at Zeref,

"Don't be like that." I growled. "Be nice to her." Zeref scowled at me and I added, "Please."

He sniffed and crossed his arms. "Fine, whatever." He grumbled.

"We're not together anymore though." I assured Lucy. "In fact, we never really dated. He just stalked me and told everybody we were because he's not quite right in the head."

Zeref's mouth dropped open, "How dare you!" he cried. "I am not insane!"

"I never said you were." I said. "Anyway, Zeref, I've shown you around the school, so if you don't mind, please go home so I can spend time with my GIRLFRIEND!"

Zeref's features were soured for a good solid minute before they smoothed out and he smiled. "Okay, Natsu. See you when you get back!" cheerfully and quickly skipped off before I could say anything, which I was incapable of because my brain was still reeling from how Lucy must've seen those words.

"Natsu are you… are you sure, you guys are really broken up? Because he doesn't seem to think so."

"I just… he's just a creep, that's why I never dated him. Just ignore him and stay clear… I don't know what he's capable of…" which was true. I had no idea what he might do to poor Lucy if I didn't give into his demands, or if he was genuine, or if he even knew what love was. But every word I spoke to Lucy was indeed true. He was a creep, and I never dated him, and I couldn't possibly know what he'd do to gain my affections. As far as I knew, he needed my body and pleasure to live… maybe I should do research on Incubus' when I got home. I needed to get rid of this little problem and get my life back on track.

I wish I knew how to get rid of him as he was the most annoying nuisance… I just wanted to live happily with my girlfriend, one of the most beautiful and understanding people I have ever met. "Well, I've got to go." Lucy said, kissing his cheek. "Perhaps we can go somewhere this weekend?"

"Yeah, we should definitely do that." I said, smiling.

"I'll call you later then." I nodded and she gave me one of her dazzling smiles. "Then I'll talk to you later, Natsu. Bye!" I smiled as I watched her walk off.

Slowly, I walked home because I had nowhere else to be and silently hoped that he would allow me to get my homework done without pestering me. I knew I was taking this entire thing rather calmly because before yesterday I had no idea supernatural beings existed. But after the shock wore off I realized there was nothing I could do except try to treat it like normal. It wasn't going well though. It seemed Zeref wasn't interested in being normal.

When I entered the house I slammed the door behind me and stomped up to my room where I knew he would be. I opened the door and saw him in the attire he'd had on the night before, reading my magazines. "It's pretty naughty having magazines like these." He waved the one he was reading around. That one was filled with half-naked girls. Flushing bright red I snatched it out of his hand. "You're the one reading it, perv." I grumbled.

"Yes, but I'm an Incubus. I was made for that kind of thing. Unlike you."

"Well, I'm a teenage boy. It's perfectly normal." I said, turning on the laptop on my desk. Curious, he floated over to take a look.

"What're you looking at?" I ignored him and typed in Incubus to learn about them. Apparently, they were supernatural beings who engaged in… certain activities with women when they were a sleep.

"You're just all kinds of perverted creep, aren't you?" I asked, glancing at him. He smirked and shrugged.

"I'm flattered you looked me up, but why?"

"Well I want to know what you are, what you do, and mostly how to get rid of you." The demon barked with laughter.

"You can't get rid of me." He said. "I go where I please."

I rolled my eyes and kept searching through several websites. "In all these it says you prey upon women. So, why me?"

"Are you discriminating against me? I can be bi if I want." he said with a raised eyebrow. "That's rather racist don't you think?" I sighed,

"It's just a question."

He stared at me and crossed his arms, "Fine, if you must know I don't like women. Sure they're great and fun and entertaining for a one-night stand but… when serious I prefer something a little more… hard-core." He gave me a wicked grin. "Don't worry though. I'll get you to fall for me, everyone does. Then I'll steal away your innocence along with your life-force to keep me good-looking and alive, of course."

"Well I'm gonna tell you now, buddy. You aren't exactly endearing yourself to me."

He shrugged and moved back to the bed with my magazine still in hand. The websites on how to get rid of the demon were useless. Most said if you didn't want the relationship you could do an exorcism or meditate or ask the spirit to leave firmly and some other things. All completely useless for this situation. "Find anything?" the demon asked after hours and hours of research, on his stomach, still flipping through the magazine.

"I told you I didn't like that outfit." I countered, completely ignoring the question and shutting off the computer.

"Trying to dodge questions, are we? How horrible of you." He grinned. "And I happen to like this attire. Those other clothes are too restricting, I don't like them." I scowled.

"We made a deal."

"Yes, but I never said how long I would keep the clothes on."

"What would it take for you to keep whatever clothes I give you on, and never wear that skimpy thing again." he considered it, tapping his chin. "And banging me is out of the question." The demon cursed and gave me a smirk.

"Alright, fine. What about…" Zeref seemed to be thinking about it long and hard. Zeref opened his mouth to say something when the window caught his attention. "It's raining out there…" he said softly. I nodded.

"Yeah, it rains here a lot. Why? You not like the rain?

"I've never seen it before."

"You want to see the weather channel? I have it on an app." Zeref raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" I smirked,

"Put on the clothes I ask and never wear that thing again and I'll tell you." Zeref pouted, crossing his arms.

"Aw, you're no fun, I had something planned."

"Take it or leave it." I said with a shrug. He stared at me for a long time before sighing and rolling his eyes.

"Fine. Just hurry up and show me!" I smiled a little at his enthusiasm and went to the weather app on my phone.

"See, there's thunder and lightning storms up ahead. Scary stuff, it's hard to sleep sometimes with all the thunder."

"I see… good thing we have each other!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, no. We made a deal last night and I said you could sleep with me only because I wanted to know your name. Now that I know it, I don't want to know anything else, so I get my own bed tonight. I don't care if you sleep in here, but you'll have to do it on the floor."

"So mean." Zeref pouted at me and I shrugged. "Get used to it."

"But I—!" Zeref was cut off by a loud clap of thunder. "That's not fair." Zeref continued after a moments hesitation. "You can't just leave me, I'm scared of the lightning and thunder!"

"Liar." I grumbled.

"I'm not lying!" he exclaimed.

"Yes you are!" Zeref shook his head and tackled me wrapping his arms and legs around me. "You creep!"

"If I'm a creep then you're a pervert."

"Fine, but if I'm a pervert then you get pushed off me." I pushed him off the bed and laughed as he almost hit the ground.

"Meany."

"Creeper."

"Pervert."

I glared at him and he just smirked right on back. "Ugh, I hate you!" I exclaimed and he pouted.

"Well that simply won't do." he said. "What makes someone appealing to you?"

"Well, being a creeper is a big no, no for me."

"Well what do you want me to do? Give up a part of who I am? That's not very romantic, Natsu." He accused. I growled under my breath and groaned.

"Just go back into whatever hole you crawled out of."

"But I don't wanna!" he whined. "Ooo, what's this?" he asked, getting side-tracked, flying over to something on my desk. He picked it up and of course, I lashed out.

"Don't touch that!" I snatched it from him and held it protectively, glaring at him.

"Don't be like that, I was just curious, geez."

"Well don't be! Just go to hell!" I shouted and flicked off the light switch. Before pulling back the covers and hopping in bed, my back turned to him. I didn't even care I hadn't changed into my pajamas.

I felt his eyes on my back, questioning. I closed my eyes, clenching my teeth. I hated him, I hated him so much. I heard him glide closer to me the air whooshing around him. I felt him hover above me, his breath on my ear, but I didn't care if he got mad. I didn't care if I overreacted. Because of all the things he could've found it just had to be this, didn't it?

"I'm sorry." I could feel his lips on my ear and they lingered there for a moment before pulling back. I felt a little bad for shouting at him but I still didn't move once until I was sure he was gone, barely breathing. Then, I pulled my arms away from my chest to look at what lay in them. It was a picture. A picture of a man with red spiky hair and dark eyes, glittering with joy. Stupid Zeref, why did he have to remind me of this guy. I sniffed and pulled the picture back to my chest, falling into a fitful sleep as all the thunder and lightning raged unceasingly behind me.

* * *

 **A/N Thank you everyone for reading this, I'm still unsure about it so feedback is very much appreciated. Thank you Werva for suggesting I do more Zeref x Natsu, it encouraged me to write this fic because really this couple does not have enough love. I hope you all enjoyed this reviews/follows/favorites are welcome. I don't know when the next chapter will be up but hopefully soon. See all of you later and feel free to tell me your thoughts. Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke up feeling horrible. I hadn't slept much the night before despite all my best efforts. I groaned and sat up. Turning, I saw he was in my room, looking through my things with a curious, almost cute expression on his face. "Nosy creep." I grumbled, glaring at him.

His head turned toward me and at once, the devilish grin returned. "Good morning to you too, beautiful." He hopped up and flew over, hovering above me. "It's 10:00 you know." He said. It took me several moments to register what he said, but when I did my eyes widened to a point where it probably appeared comical and I bolted up.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" I cried, scrambling out of bed and moaning when I tried to move.

"Well, you reek of fever." The demon relayed. "I thought it would be best to let you sleep. Also, I was mad at you for yelling at me."

"How childish." I glared at him. He shrugged and went back to looking through my things.

"How do you feel?" he asked. I laid back down, rubbing my temple where I had a killer headache.

"Like crap." I said, moaning.

"Huh. Well then, you're glad I didn't wake you up."

"No, I'm still mad about that."

He pouted and said, "Fine, then I won't help you out and you can take care of yourself. I'll just mess with your social media." My eyes widened.

"Wait, don't do that!"

"I wonder what people would think if they knew you read magazines like this." He held up the magazine filled with those model girls. I glared at him.

"Fine, I'm not mad then. Just knock it off! And don't mess with my social media!"

"Your rather bossy." Zeref said, flying over to him. "I don't think it suits you." I growled and rolled my eyes.

"Like I care about what you think suits me!"

Zeref shrugged. "Well, you should probably start caring about what I think. Because we're going to be together until I get bored or you succumb to my… charms." He paused when coming up with that word and gently kissed my head making me groan.

"You suck." I grumbled, closing my eyes and rolling over. "Go to hell…" I mumbled and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I watched my dear Natsu quietly and without comment. He looked so troubled and to be honest, I didn't know why. I watched him sleep sometimes, most of the time. I could do that too, it wasn't like I needed to sleep I was supposed to be a demon of dreams after all and people dream all the time so there was no rest for me. "Zeref, you creeper." he grumbled. I chuckled softly and went over to my future boyfriend's desk and opened up his laptop. First, there was a passcode I had to think of. Thankfully, Natsu had been stupid enough to enter the passcode last night so I already knew it. Honestly, who did the name of their girlfriend and the year they graduated as a passcode? It was so obvious, it was sad.

Before accomplishing my original objective, I went through Natsu's search history but unfortunately, didn't find something worth my interest or anything I could tease him about later. I was a mischievous, nosy demon by nature so of course I checked through his deleted history too. Still, nothing. Then I got on with what I wanted to do and logged into Natsu's email. I had been watching him for a long time, so I knew his passwords, usernames, everything. Unfortunately, though, there was nothing there of any interest either. I sighed. I thought teenagers sent each other emails to see where to meet up. Natsu was on the computer all the time after all and while I didn't watch him every single moment, I did watch him a lot.

Then I heard a ding next to Natsu's bedside. I froze but the pink-haired boy only groaned and rolled over. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding and walked over to the small device. On it was a tiny little message, apparently from Lucy. I quickly read it and smirked. The innocent little girl wanted to know if Natsu was alright. I tapped the thing and turned it over in my palms. How did you answer? "Zeref, what're you doing?" Natsu groaned, rolling over to face me. I thought up a lie quick as a lick and replied,

"It dinged. It's your girlfriend. She wants to know if you're alright."

"Tell her I'm sick."

"Can't, it won't work. I think it's broken." Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Swipe the screen up." He ordered. It took me a few tries but eventually I got it. Now there were numbers. "My passcode is 456999." I typed in the numbers he said. "Go to the bottom of the screen and click the bubble." I did so and waited for more instructions, but Natsu rolled over like he forgot he was supposed to help.

"I'll just send her a quick message. That okay?"

"Mhm."

I cackled internally and hit the place that said text message and typed in what I wanted. "Hey babe, I just didn't feel too well today, but I'm feeling a lot better now. What about we go to the park? I'll meet you there?" I typed it very slowly, and it took a few minutes for me to figure out how to send it, but I did. I didn't dare let the phone shut off as I didn't know if I could remember the passcode. Lucy texted back almost immediately, and I wondered how much time she spent on the phone.

I set up the time and then hid Natsu's phone so he couldn't see the messages. Hopefully, the phone would remain lost, and he would never know what I did, but by the time he found it, Lucy would be furious he stood her up. They'd already be broken up, Natsu would be together with me and we would live happily ever after. If he found the phone after he'd just be relieved and happy that I did it, realizing that I'd really helped him out.

Then, I returned to looking through Natsu's things, curious about what other secrets he could be hiding from me.

* * *

When I woke up again, I didn't feel much better. My head still ached, and my throat was still sore, and Zeref was still looking through my things! "Zeref." His name came out hoarse and scratchy. I swallowed but that just hurt.

"Yes?" he flew up to me, smiling.

"Help me stand up. I need to go get some medicine and I don't trust you to get the right kind and fill it to the right amount."

"You honestly think I'd poison you with an overdose?"

"No, but I think you might make a mistake and only realize it after it's too late." I grumbled and stood up, my head pounding and my stomach churning. I threw an arm around Zeref's shoulder as he helped me down the stairs into the kitchen. I was shaking with fever feeling horrible. I opened the medicine cabinet and took out some acetaminophen, pouring the correct amount and downed it, nearly choking on the putrid stuff. I absolutely hated medicine but then again, didn't everyone?

"Human sickness is so strange…" Zeref muttered.

"Do you even get sick?"

"No." he admitted and simply carried me to the couch despite my protests. After a few minutes of lying there, breathing shallowly I cursed, "What?" he asked.

"I forgot water." I grunted and thought about getting up, wondering if it was even worth it.

"I'll get you some." Zeref offered and I watched him walk into the kitchen. A few moments later he came back out with a glass. Just seeing it made me parched. I sat up a little and held my hand out to take the water, but he snatched it away at the last moment.

"Hey!"

"Answer a question first." He said and I agreed because I just wanted the stupid water!

"Fine, what?"

"In a relationship. One filled with love instead of lust. Do people just… do things for each other. Without payment?"

"Wouldn't you know. You're the big observer of humans."

"Perhaps I am however… I never really grasped that concept of human emotion. Why would people do things for each other without payment? That seems like a waste."

"It's because they love each other. They do it because it will make the other person happy. And they want that other person to be happy because they love them and seeing them happy makes you happy."

Zeref frowned and stared at the glass of water then back at me. "Then I give this to you free of charge." Zeref said it proudly, like it was an accomplishment. I rolled my eyes and took the glass, downing it before saying,

"Technically you still charged me because you said I had to answer a question before you gave the water to me." Zeref was silent for several moments, obviously rolling this over in his mind.

"Do you need another glass?" he asked. I smiled a little because the way he wanted to try and copy human customs was kind of adorable. I nodded and soon enough I was given another glass full. "I give you THIS glass of water free of charge."

"I guess you did." I said and settled back down on the couch grabbing a blanket at the top and pulling it over my shaking and shivering body. I felt Zeref's fingers run through my hair and fought down the automatic response to tell him to stop. Because I didn't want him to stop. "Hey um… did you tell Lucy I was sick?"

"Yeah." He said. I didn't really trust him, but I didn't want to search for my phone either and I doubted Zeref would go get it for me.

"Hey, Zeref." I whispered, groaning. He raised an eyebrow. "Can you get the trash can, quickly!" Zeref seemed to be confused but he quickly did what I asked anyway. I grabbed it in time (barely), and my stomach emptied its contents. I barely registered a hand patting my back. And when I came back up, wiping my mouth, I saw Zeref's almost fascinated expression as he peered into the trash can. "Don't look in there, it's gross."

"it smells gross." He commented, wrinkling his nose. "Humans really are disgusting." I ignored him, feeling exhausted and horrible, I rolled back over to go to sleep again.

I remember it clearly, the dream I had. And what an odd dream it was too.

 _Zeref was above me, and my hands were cuffed. They were cold, and metal, and tight. I didn't know what they were cuffed to, but they were cuffed, as were my legs, and I was naked. I couldn't tell whether Zeref was naked because I just saw his face, and eyes, dark and filled with what I could only describe as lust. I could feel his hands on my face, and could feel them traveling down my body, every intimate place he touched made me groan. "Zeref." I whispered and moaned when I felt him start to suck on my throat. Kisses traveled down my body, my chest, everywhere. Everything was so quiet, or loud. I should say our voices were loud, but there was no other sound. Everywhere was dark, I was floating on nothingness, bound and vulnerable in front of an almost stranger. I struggled slightly not wanting this. I told myself again and again that I did NOT want this! My body had other reactions, but they always did. My mind and my heart didn't want this._

 _"Zeref!" My voice, hoarse, almost unrecognizable, quiet, husky. I felt his administrations stop for a moment. I saw him look at me, eyes question. "Please stop." He paused, I could still feel his hands. I saw him lean down, his warm breath against my face, smelling of mint. He kissed me, soft, innocent (almost). His lips encompassed mine wholly and made my heartrate pick up. Then he said, signature smirk on his face,_

 _"Soon, I'll have you begging."_

 _"Doubt it." I said, blinked, and i was pulled back into reality._

My eyes shot open and I sat up panting. "What was that?" I asked and turned only to see he was on the floor. Sleeping? Maybe he was just closing his eyes, but his breathing was even. "Cute." I found myself thinking and then banished these thoughts. "Zeref?" I asked and shook him softly. He cracked one eye open,

"Your no fun." He grumbled.

"So, you were doing… that stuff. It wasn't a dream." I glared.

"It was sort of a dream, a shared dream, but a dream. I'm an Incubus. A dream demon. What did you expect?" I crossed my arms,

"You're taking advantage of me!" I accused. "Because I'm sick, I can't fight back!" he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. You're not supposed to fight back. It's supposed to be fun."

"Well, I didn't find it very fun." I grumbled and flipped over. "And I would very much appreciate if you did not do that again!"

"Fine, be a stick in the mud, see if I care." I sat up, still glaring at him.

"I guess I'm not going to get your to feel remorseful… so after you were done texting Lucy, where'd you put my phone?"

"I don't remember." Zeref said, fiddling with my TV remote.

I sighed in frustration. "That things' expensive you know! Also, why are you always into everything!" Zeref shrugged.

"Everything in here's so interesting. Plus, there's nothing where I come from just a black hole of emptiness, but this world is filled with so many things… I just wonder how you CAN'T touch everything."

"Because I live here. It's the norm for me… there's really nothing where you come from?"

"Nope, we live in a void. All dark and filled with nothing. Just us. It's so big we hardly ever even meet up with each other. The only source of entertainment we've ever had is with humans and it takes a lot of strength to interact with them outside their dreams."

"So, you must be very powerful or something?"

"I guess so." He said, finding the power button and watching, bright-eyed as my TV turned on to show images and color. "Whoa…"

"You guess so?" I asked. He nodded.

"I mean, I can go the whole day. But when you sleep, I meditate to gain energy back. It's rather exhausting."

"So, sitting there thinking about nothing is exhausting?"

"Yeah. It takes a lot out of a guy." He grinned. "How does it turn on?" I blinked and rubbed the back of my head because actually… I didn't really know.

"Um… so there's cords, though I guess some do it without cords… but anyway, this has cords that connect to the wall. And the wall is wired and this thing." I tap the adapter. "Takes in signals and powers up the TV. And stuff… so yeah." I think any other human being would've thought my explanation was the worst on Earth but well… Zeref wasn't human so obviously I was the expert on this and therefore, always right.

"Really?" he asked, frowning. "Strange." I nodded and then decided to be a little mean because he was mean to me all the time.

"Yep, and do you know where the signals come from?" he shook his head. "They come from an alien aircraft in outer space. They give us the signals and so, to stop them from invading Earth. We broadcast out television to them. That's why there's so much of it. Because if the aliens ever get bored, they'd come down here and takeover Earth, eating all of us alive."

"That's terrible!" he said, actually concerned. It was cute, the fact he was the ignorant, naïve one for once. It made me feel a little happier and it made him less powerful. I wondered if someone would think him crazy if he went and repeated it and he would get thrown in a psychiatric ward and I'd never have to deal with him again… but those were mean thoughts.

"Ha, you're adorable." I said, chuckling. He frowned,

"Hey! You're not supposed to find me adorable! You're supposed to find me hot! You're the adorable one." I shrugged.

"You just believed everything I just said, didn't you?"

"Well I don't have any reason not to believe you. So, I trusted you would tell me the truth."

"If you put it that way, it makes me sound like the bad guy." I grumbled. He raised an eyebrow.

"So, you were lying to me?" I gave him a non-committal look and went to go find something to eat. "You're so mean!" he cried. "You don't see me making up stories about aliens."

"Well I'm not a half-witted creeper."

"Well too bad, because neither am I."

"Look, can you just go away? You make me… frustrated. And I don't like you. I probably never will, so please just leave.

"Why not? I don't understand what I'm doing wrong!"

"Honestly Zeref, I don't think you're doing anything wrong." I said. "I just don't like you. Plain and simple. You make me so furious I just want to choke you when your… sleeping or meditating or whatever it is you call it. I thought I wanted things to be different… I thought I wanted change, wanted something interesting to happen for once! But now I'm starting to think I only wanted what I hadn't experienced. And now that I have, I kindly ask you to take yourself and whatever else you brought here, home to your empty dimension. Or at least go bother some other helpless human."

"Is that what you want?" he asked, looking more amused than angry, something that probably wasn't good. Him being angry wouldn't have been good for me either, but at least it would've been a more natural reaction.

"… Yes." I said after a pause.

"Very well then, I wonder just how long it will be until your begging me to take you back." I rolled my eyes.

"Doubtful." I crossed my arms.

He chuckled softly, but not in a sinister kind of way. No, it was almost a giggle. A giggle that a child might make when they knew a secret nobody else did. It was rather concerning. "Until then, my dear Natsu."

I blinked and he was gone. To where I didn't know, but he was definitely gone. It made me sigh in relief, however I refused to relax too much. Who knew what he had planned? And he most certainly had something planned because I could tell Zeref wasn't the kind of person to give up on what they wanted so easily if at all.

* * *

I left the house quickly as I could, setting a goal for myself. After all, immortal life without goals was no fun. It was probably games such as these that kept me in such good humor. Because if I was in a bad mood all the time… the human race probably wouldn't have lasted this long and that was no good. If they were gone, I had no one to prey upon or take pleasure from and so I would die slowly and painfully, and nobody wants that.

I already had three ideas of how to get him to want me back,

1\. Bother his little girlfriend.

Lucy was it? But I probably wouldn't be too nice with her because she wasn't Natsu and was in fact an obstacle between us. I could have a good time with her regardless, she would probably put on a good show. If anything, Natsu at least knew how to pick up pretty girls.

2\. Have one of my friends attack Natsu and jump in to save him.

If Natsu was difficult I'd have to make him promise to take me back if I saved him, however what I really wanted it to be was one of those unconditional things, even if that was a bit too optimistic on my part.

3\. Threaten to kill everyone he loves.

This was a last resource if all else failed and that wouldn't be too enjoyable on my part either. I was killing precious humans that I could feed upon after all. Even I knew this was probably a sure way to get Natsu to hate me too, but if that was what it came to that was what I'd do. I would make him submit and then I would take him, and he would enjoy it, they always did. Then, I would go find someone else to prey upon and leave him, broken perhaps, depending on just how difficult he planned on being.

Hopefully, number 1 would be enough. Natsu's spirit and defiance was what made him interesting, but hopefully he would understand when it was time to act out, and when it was best to be docile. If he didn't, I would teach him. I was here to help and make sure we each had the most enjoyable time possible after all.

My plan of action was fairly simple. I had no plans of revealing I was an Incubus. No, I wasn't worried about exposure. After all, who would believe her? What I was worried about was that then she could guess Natsu and I's relationship earlier then I wanted her to. Before she found out I needed Natsu to at least like me so he wouldn't outright insist that we're not together. She would accuse him, he would hesitate, and that would be all she needed to know. Their relationship would be over and then I would be all Natsu needed. Then we would live happily-ever-after. Until I got bored and left him, of course. But I'd live happily-ever-after, until my next interesting challenge came along. But that was only scenario one.

Regardless, I'd appear as if I were her classmate. At the side of her house I realized that humans were odd and rather skittish. I'd need a reason to be coming over. I could make myself appear hurt, a few scratches maybe… but that'd just lead to more questions.

It was pretty perfect though. Lucy should've just gotten home after realizing Natsu stood her up and hadn't even texted that he was feeling sick again and couldn't make it. She'd be hurt emotionally, and I'd be hurt physically creating different types of pain, but pain all the same. And wouldn't it be just perfect if I was mad at Natsu too?

Plans, they all filled my mind as I thought about how I wanted to play this. I've been told I have a rather clever mind, though it's not exactly true. As far as demons go, I'm not the most intelligent. By no means am I dumb, but there are others with superior intellect. I think humans just perceive me in such a way because they're either stupid to begin with or were stupefied by my beauty. Either way, they ended up saying the dumbest things around me…

I did put effort into many things, it made everything much more interesting. I sighed and punched myself. Painful it was, but there were worse things. I scratched myself a little, mostly in visible places like my arms and neck, but none on my face because I didn't feel like messing up perfection tonight.

Once I thought I was proficiently beaten I focused on looking rather pathetic. I knew Natsu might've said all kinds of ludicrous (most true) things about me so Lucy would be weary, but she'd be mad at Natsu and looking for ways to get back at him. Women were the type to hold grudges. So, she'd probably take me in. Also, again, she was a woman and I found that most of the time women were more compassionate and willing to help an almost-stranger more than a male was. She'd probably feel sorry for me and invite me in the house.

And had I accounted for her parents? Of course, I had! Her mother (if she had one) would probably be much like her daughter, even more willing since I was a new, innocent transfer student. A poor, innocent, weak transfer student who had the misfortune of getting jumped. For some reason, if I was her classmate, it was bound to make me more likeable and trustworthy. Her father would probably be a bit of a problem. Innocent transfer student or not I was still a teenage boy in his eyes and therefore a threat to his daughter's innocence. It was my theory that the two women would be able to convince him however that was by no means any reason to act any less pitiful and respectable.

There was a possibility that he just wouldn't like me. There were many variables and I decided to deal with them as they came. So, the only thing left to do was knock on the door. Hopefully we'd bond, and I might even get _lucky_ if you know what I mean. I waited for a minute or two and the only reason I did not get annoyed or impatient was because I thought about Natsu and how exactly I was going to make him beg to take me back, to make me give him my affections because if he wouldn't take my affections then well… I'd give them to the cute blonde girl who opened the door. Just a crack, with the chain across the front. "Yes?" she asked. I had hidden my face until now, careful not to show it until the most opportune time. Plus, I had to get my expression ready.

The great thing about being a demon dedicated to "lovemaking" was that I had a lot of acting experience and personas. Playful, sadistic, serious, innocent, cute, and so many more. Sometimes humans were fond of roleplay (for some unknown reason). But as long as I got what I came for, I didn't really care about the steps it took to get there. Results. That was what I loved.

So, I tilted my head slightly, so she could see my face, but so I looked timid as well, shy. I acted brash earlier and sardonic, but I reasoned that a harsh beating would sober up even the most mocking and childish of people. "Excuse me…" I whispered softly. "But could I perhaps come in."

"How do you know where I live?" she asked suspiciously. "Zeref, was it?" I nodded.

"I don't know where you live. Your last name's on the mailbox and I was in the area."

"How do you know my last name?"

"Natsu." She visibly stiffened at the name and internally I smirked. So, she was mad he stood her up. Perfect. "Please." I whispered. I let my arms drop slightly, just enough so she could see the scratches and I tilted my neck so she could see the large bruise on my collarbone and scratches on my throat.

"Oh God, what happened to you?" she asked. "Just stay there a moment." She said when I opened my mouth to respond. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Obviously, what happened to me wasn't as important as the fact that it happened no matter the cause. "Mom!" I saw her disappear around the corner and sighed a bit in frustration.

A few minutes and another woman who looked very, very similar to Lucy came to the door. Soon, I was inside, rushed to the dining room table to have my cuts and bruises treated. Mission success! I didn't want to sound full of myself (though I had every right to be) but I truly had immaculate intelligence. Forget about not being the smartest demon in the world, at least I was smarter than humans and that was really all I ever needed.

"How did you end up here?" the elder woman asked. "My name's Layla by the way. I'm Lucy's mother." I nodded.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Heartfillia."

"Please, call me Layla, dear. Just how did you get these."

"Jumped. New kid in town, guess I looked vulnerable or helpless or something."

"That's just awful. I'm glad we were nearby to take care of you. Lucy has told me much about you." Lucy gave her mother a look and I knew that what she probably had said were not good things.

"Yes… they probably weren't good, were they?" Layla stayed silent as she cleaned, and only hummed in response. I took it as a yes.

"Mom!" I heard Lucy say tightly.

"It's alright Lucy, I understand. I was not very respectful, but you are my love rival." I said.

"Maybe not for much longer." I heard her mutter.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Nothing." She said quickly. She wasn't ready to tell me she was cutting it off with Natsu, but I had instilled doubt into her. And right after she had told him about going to Stanford. It was probably concerning for her.

"So, you like Natsu?" Layla asked, frowning.

"Yes." I stated, not afraid to admit I was these human's definition of "gay". Except I wasn't. But I probably shouldn't tell them I'm bi yet. Soon I was patched up and frowning, the picture-perfect concerned boyfriend look.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Actually… it's Natsu." I said. "After I was beaten up, I called him to come and pick me up, but he refused. Said he had something to do… Some, "fool to laugh at" I think were his exact words. Apparently, he was meeting up with someone, but I'm afraid I don't know who. Then he hung up on me." Lucy's jaw visibly tightened but she said,

"That doesn't sound like Natsu at all! You think maybe you had the wrong number?" I shrugged.

"I'm fairly sure I didn't. I'm just rather upset. I thought he was kidding so I waited there for quite a while before I realized he wasn't coming."

"That's… that's horrible." I purposely made it sound like her own story of how he stood her up. Except she probably thought she had it worse. Because he'd told her he was coming. Now, did I feel bad for lying? Did I feel bad for ripping them apart? I suppose, some small part of me felt bad for destroying such a healthy relationship. Some part of me was saddened by the fact I knew I would bring Natsu pain it was just that… the part of me that felt that way wasn't big enough to stop or even phase me. It was all rather meaningless to me. I lived forever, I had lived for millions of years, before Earth came to be, before humans came to be. It was barely enough, taking pleasure from other Succubus and Incubus'. We were barely surviving until humans came along. Our main power came from supposed dreams though sometimes (very rarely) our victim was awake the entire time. But of course, they saw it as a dream still because there was no way such a perfect being could exist, correct? I guess so. Eventually, some of us got bored with that, so like me, they attached themselves to a human and fed off them for months or years even. That usually killed them, however, and most were deemed insane because of the wild tales they spun of us.

There were other reports of course, and I had thought about Natsu telling everybody about me and being deemed insane. But, like I had truly suspected, he was mentally stable, and smart enough to realize no one would believe him without me even having to tell him. It was part of why I liked him. He was still human, so he was still stupid. But at least he wasn't the stupidest of the stupid punks.

"So, he stood you up too." I was dragged out of my various thoughts by Lucy's voice. I nodded,

"I suppose so… wait. Too?" she seemed to realize what she had said, her eyes widening for a moment before she sighed and shook her head, knowing she'd have to tell me the truth.

"He stood me up too. In the park. I would've forgiven him if he had just sent a text telling me he couldn't make it after all. I suppose if I get one by tomorrow, telling me he got sick again, was sleeping and forgot to say something then I can forgive him but… no, I know Natsu's forgetful." She sighed as she seemed to be fighting internally with herself about whether or not to be mad at Natsu. But I knew she was. No matter if she knew he was forgetful or blah blah blah. She'd blame him, she'd be mad at him, and she'd give him the silent treatment. Natsu, not knowing why would approach, ask why she was mad. Lucy would think he forgot and yell at him making Natsu yell back and hopefully other strains on their current relationship would be brought up and they'd start to break apart.

That's where I would come in, having a reason to be mad at Natsu also and try to comfort her and hopefully a spark would show up and we'd start to connect. Natsu would be jealous, tell me not to talk to her and that's when I would achieve my ultimate goal (hopefully.) I would get him to take me back first and start to implement myself back into his life. He would fall in love because who wouldn't? I would act like I loved him also, and then when I got bored of playing boyfriend, I'd steal his innocence before revealing it was all a ploy and I even ruined his relationship with Lucy. Oh, how broken he'd be and oh how triumphant I would be!

I would win our little game, though I suppose to Natsu it was more about his life, but those were small details. "It's a shame he did such a thing." I shook my head with a sigh. Then I smiled slightly. "I suppose he disappointed both of us."

"Indeed, he did." Lucy said, frowning. "I'll see you around, won't I?" she asked as I got up to leave. My goal here had been achieved. I had interested her and shown we were compatible and similar. I nodded.

"Of course. I would love to talk with you again sometime!" she nodded, smiling.

"I'm glad to here that." She said. I moved to leave out the front door and the two women waved goodbye.

"Do be careful on your way home, dear!" Layla called.

"Yeah, and ice those bruises!"

"I will!" I called to the two ladies. They were lovely, charming, smart young ladies actually. So proper it honestly disgusted me (almost). I respected them, they weren't as bad as some humans, though they most certainly weren't the best. I really had nowhere to go so I let myself become invisible to everyone (except Natsu). And I slipped into an abandoned building. It was filled with homeless people, but it was still abandoned.

We demons had the most peculiar set of rules. We could be invisible to everyone in the world except the one we were bound to. At the moment I was bound to Natsu, feeding off his emotions unnoticeably. Once I was done with him, I'd go off to be bound to another person, then another and another and another. And that person could always see me, no matter how much energy I used, trying to conceal myself. I settled down on the concrete and closed my eyes the last thought in my head being, "Heh, Natsu will never find out where I hid that phone."

* * *

I was starting to regret my life choices. I was starting to regret kicking Zeref out, not because I knew he was probably sleeping in some alley (though that made me feel a little bad.) But my main reason for regret was that he could've helped me look for my phone!

The tiny red thing was nowhere to be found no matter where I looked. I still felt a tiny bit under the weather, but I thought the main sickness had already past.

It was not between the couch cushions or on any tables or on my bed or backpack or bathroom. Nowhere! I growled in frustration. I knew Zeref had it last, perhaps I could've persuaded him to remember where it was! But no, like a stupid idiot looking out for his pride I had sent him away. Sent away the only person who could remember where my phone was and fish it out of whatever hell hole it went in to. I sighed and flopped down on the couch, running my fingers through my hair. Sitting there helped me try to put myself in Zeref's shoes. If I were a perverted creeper, where would I put a phone? Or rather, a small device from a planet where tiny red boxes used to communicate dwelled.

I realized that despite how much I didn't want it to be so, Zeref was smart. If it had truly been his intention to hide the phone, then it was definitely going to take me a long time to find it. The problem was that I don't think Zeref did anything unintentional, so he had hidden the phone. For what reason, I intended to figure out. Unfortunately, I wasn't strange enough to think of where he would intentionally hide a phone. He'd put it somewhere I didn't go often… the broom closet? No, too obvious. It had to be somewhere really well hidden or somewhere so obvious I wouldn't think to look (in addition to a strange place). Somewhere it could be destroyed rather easily if I missed it. "The oven." I thought, standing up.

It could be the microwave, but that was too tiny. I'd easily spot it, but in the vast oven when I just shove something in? I'll admit, I don't use the oven a lot, but all it'd take is once and the phone could be gone forever.

What I didn't understand is why he would hide it. What didn't he want me seeing?

I went to the kitchen and opened the oven, peering into the dark hollow depths. It would require some digging, but I knew I would find it eventually. And after some searching and flashlights and frustrated screams later, I saw it. In the corner, a hard to reach place, way in the back. I stuck my hand in, and after a minute or two wrapped my fingers around the small device and pulled it out. "What don't you want me to see?" I murmured and tapped it. The phone lit up showing several text messages from Lucy all consisting of the same message worded in different phrases. "Where are you? What's taking so long? Are you coming? Do you still feel sick?" a few more before they stopped. I frowned, not understanding and read a few texts earlier after unlocking it.

I stared at it long and hard before realizing this was what Zeref didn't want me to find. He didn't want me to find this phone because he had texted Lucy and when I didn't show up, she'd think I stood her up, causing a rift between us so that…

I felt my blood start to boil. It was such a horrible scheme, so devious and truly awful. Did he even have morals? I was starting to doubt it. Had he sent anything else to anybody? I checked and saw he hadn't. It was all my fault, I never should've trusted him to relay even a simple message as that stupid demon would find a way to mess it up.

What I really wanted to do was beat the demon's face in. Mess it up so it wasn't so pretty anymore. I wanted him on his knees, apologizing, begging me to forgive him. I wanted justice! I sent a text to Lucy, deciding not to add anything about Zeref and his escapade but just explained I still felt sick and that was why I couldn't make it. She'd obviously been waiting for this because she texted back almost immediately saying that it was okay and then asking about why I hadn't helped Zeref?

I didn't know what she meant.

-What do you mean?

-I mean he came over here, beat up, claiming he got jumped. Why didn't you help him?

-I was sleeping.

-… Okay.

I could tell, even over the phone that she wanted to say more but she stopped herself.

-Where is he?

I found myself texting.

-He was over here but he already left. He looked like he was headed toward the abandoned building a few blocks down since that's the only thing out the way he went.

I wanted to feel even angrier that he had gone over to Lucy's and probably tricked her into trying to think me a jerk. I sent her a thank you and went outside and unlocked my bicycle, hopping on. He and I were going to have a very serious talk about boundaries and the differences between right and wrong.

Oh, and I'd probably punch him in the face too, if I had time. And even if I didn't… I'd _make_ time.

* * *

 **A/N I hope you guys liked the new chapter. It took kind of a while as I was trying hard to get everything right. I also wanted to give you a bit of Zeref's POV and what he's up to. How he thinks is a little disturbing and I found myself raising an eyebrow even as I wrote down every word he said! He doesn't really have a concept of right and wrong as he wasn't taught to think in such ways. So, since he was never taught he honestly thinks that everything he's doing is acceptable, though he also knows that Natsu won't like it but BECAUSE he doesn't have those morals, he doesn't care. Natsu is going to teach him though and Zeref is going to start learning and get sweeter as time passes. (Though not for a while as it usually takes all our lives to learn these lessons). Feedback as in reviews/favorites/follows are all appreciated and motivational. Thank you guys for reading and I will see you probably next Thursday or Friday. Hope you guys have a good week, bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

I pedaled my way to the abandoned building. It had once been a church so I was honestly surprised Zeref would go there of all places considering how church was supposed to be the House of God and evil should/could not enter. I wondered what it would mean if Zeref was able to enter. Whether it would mean that God's spirit had left that church, or Zeref wasn't evil… it was interesting for me to think about even if I wasn't deeply religious.

I rode past Lucy's house all the way there. I knew it was dangerous and that this was where dangerous people lived, and I probably shouldn't be here because someone could jump me. But if it wasn't a good place for me it certainly wasn't a good place for Zeref. I had no doubt everyone in this building would try to rape him at least once. Not that they could because they would learn quickly Zeref was more than just a pretty face. Though if I thought about it, I wasn't sure he would reject them…

The door to the church creaked open as I pushed. Inside, everything was dark and dusty, and I could see shadows moving along the walls where the moonlight hit. Yeah, I knew it was late and any teenager with half a brain wouldn't be caught dead at this time of night. Or, on second thought, they probably would…

Carefully I moved through the building, though, apparently not that carefully, as I had already tripped over a dozen times. "Zeref?" I called softly, my anger dissipating slightly as more fear started creeping up on my conscience. I should've grabbed a flashlight, that would've been smart of me. But I had been too angry to think about that. It took me a few more moments to realize that I could use my phone as a flashlight. The light didn't help much to be honest, everything still looked creepy and dangerous. "Zeref?" I called his name again. I heard crashes in the shadow and held out my phone to the noise as if it could act like an efficient weapon. Out of the shadows Zeref appeared. I couldn't exactly make out his expression, but his eyes appeared placid. I walked over to him (more like stomped) and glared at him, my hands clenching into fists. "Why did you hide my phone and lie to Lucy and lie to me?" I demanded.

"Not even a hello?" he asked sadly, though I couldn't tell if it was mocking or not. My glare answered him and he sighed, answering my question, "I didn't want to lie to you Natsu. But I did want Lucy to dislike you so the two of you could break up and you'd want me. I'm guessing since you're here, angry, you found the phone despite my amazing hiding place."

"It was rather simple." I said though it was only half true. Once I figured it out the concept was rather simple, but the thinking had taken quite a long time. "And just so you know, this makes me "want" you, even less!" I exclaimed and glared at him. "What gives you the right to play around with other people's feelings, and what gives you the right to interfere with my relationships!" I poked his chest, my scowl deepening.

"It's my soul desire to devour your innocence. The rest is a game, something to make things more interesting and fun. I don't care about your relationships, or how you feel. Not really, but to be in love I predict that you're supposed to care about the other person. I'm not capable of such a thing, but I can pretend, and it's very satisfying to see them break into tears when I finally leave."

I don't even know what I was thinking. Probably nothing. Blind rage took ahold of my actions. I only raised my hand and let it fly. I heard the sound echo through the building, bouncing off walls and into my ears.

Red blossomed almost immediately on his pale flesh. He reached the hand up, touching his cheek, looking rather shocked. I could still feel anger making my mind buzz with hateful thoughts. The slap had been more of a reflex than an actual desire to hurt him, though if I thought back, I was glad I'd done it.

No, I didn't feel regret for a long time as I stared angrily at him, gritting my teeth. He made me furious and I hated him for it, hated he could make me lash out like this when no one else could. "You hit me." He said wistfully, like he didn't quite believe it.

"Yeah, I did." I said. Deep in my heart where sadism lie, I felt satisfaction when tears filled his eyes. But then again, most of me wanted to apologize because I had been taught hitting was wrong unless it was in self-defense. Which, Zeref hadn't been trying to hit me, so I didn't count it as that even though I was doing it because the little prick deserved it. "Cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it."

"What's a bridge." He asked, rubbing the spot I'd hit, tears spilling over. I reminded myself he was a prick… I shouldn't feel bad I made him cry. Think of how many he's made sob and enjoyed it? Yes, I should think of that. But it didn't really help. It just made me feel worse because it made me feel like I was just as bad as him. I was supposed to be better than that. He was the demon, the immortal, the one that I realized, didn't really know any better than to take what he wanted. Whether it was instinct, or he had been taught, I didn't know. In fact, I didn't really know anything about him. If he had siblings, parents, where he came from…

"A bridge is something you cross. A solid object that spans over water and you can walk across it and the water, and you won't get wet."

"Humans are… interesting." He mumbled, sniffing, wiping the few tears away. "And I guess they hit hard, heh."

I didn't know what to do for him or if I should do anything, so I just shook my head and sighed. "Come on, let's go back to my house." I said softly.

"Really? I don't have to stay here?"

"No, if something DID ever happen to you down here, I would never forgive myself." He snorted.

"What, you think humans will just ravage me like a barbarian."

"Yeah. They will." I told him seriously. "And they won't make it fun or enjoyable either. You won't like it, no matter how much you're into that sort of stuff, I can guarantee it. Plus, I need to talk to you about some things. Like boundaries and what I don't tolerate and what is considered unacceptable behavior. Such as lying. You need to learn to tell the truth."

I grabbed his hand and started to drag Zeref out of the church and after some slight hesitation he started following me. This time, I tried to pay special attention to where I was going so I didn't trip like an idiot. I put my hand on the door handle and started to pull but I felt a sudden weight push it back into position. "Where're you two goin'." I heard a voice behind me, above me, and frowned, I looked only to see a tall man, with dark hair, a cigarette in his mouth, and a cocky smirk on his face.

"Home." Zeref answered, blinking.

"And where's that?"

"Close by actually. Just around-."

"Zeref shut up!" I hissed and glared at the man. "None of your business." I said. "Now, if you would kindly remove your hand, we'll be going."

"I was watching you two, there seemed to be some sort of argument. So, I just thought I'd make sure everything is alright."

"Why, aren't you just so sweet." Zeref said, his smile widening slightly. "Natsu was mad at me, so he hit me." I cringed because that sounded really bad, though it was kind of what happened, but out of context…

"How terrible of him."

"I know! But everything's okay now. I built a bridge and got over it. Now, we're going back to Natsu's house to talk about boundaries. And if I'm lucky after we'll have some fun!"

"We could have fun right now, if you wanted."

I looked between the two as Zeref said cheerfully, "That would be amazing!" Zeref had meant fun in a dirty way, I knew he had, because I knew him. This guy seemed to think of it more as an innocent comment. What made me curious was why Zeref kept on pretending he was innocent about this when he most certainly was not.

"Please just let us go!" I said. "Me and him are very busy!"  
"I'm Zeref by the way." Zeref introduced himself. "Just what kind of fun are we talking about." I saw the man's smirk widen to an evil point,

"Oh, you'll see." He said and from the shadows I could see several people coming out. Dressed in rags or black some carrying knives, others bricks. "Why don't we just get you out of those clothes. Then we can have some _real_ fun."

"Okay." My mouth dropped open, Zeref started taking off his T-shirt, revealing porcelain, perfect skin. Unblemished and without fault.

"Zeref!"

"What, he's cute." Zeref defended himself. "And I haven't had fun all day!" he crossed his arms and pouted at me. I growled and rolled my eyes. I stood back and watched him with angry, furious eyes. Hadn't he listened to a word I'd said earlier?

"Fine, get raped, see if I care!" I shouted and curled into myself, hoping with Zeref as a distraction (he was a pretty good one) that they wouldn't notice me and thankfully, they didn't seem to.

"Then let's have some fun." The man said and soon they had formed a circle around Zeref, and I couldn't see within it, nor did I want to but then… I kind of did. So carefully, I peered between their legs. And the distance between their bodies. It wasn't the best view ever, but I wasn't going to complain.

Funnily enough, I hadn't noticed before, but a boy was in the center of the ring as well. He didn't have anything on, and I could feel my face turn bright red and I quickly looked away. Zeref seemed unperturbed by this. Slightly jealous, I thought about how many naked women and men he must've already seen. Before looking away I could see he was pale though, with bruises covering the length of his body. Dark blue eyes stared at Zeref, cautious, weary, but not necessarily frightened. I frowned and looked back, getting used to it after a little while. It was more of the shock of a naked body rather than the fact they were actually naked and if I looked closer, I could make out… wait, I felt like I knew this person. I squinted and my heartrate must've doubled. It must've because I felt a large pain in my chest, and it was quickly growing. "What do you want me to do?" Zeref asked.

"Have some fun together." I felt disgusted. They probably liked it, thought it was hot or something, but I wanted to escape.

"You want me to have fun… with this person?" they all nodded, waiting excitedly for something to happen.

"Leave him alone!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. "Zeref, we're leaving." I said.

"Neither of you are going anywhere."

"Oh, we're going alright… right after I send you to hell!" I picked up one of the rotted wood pieces, big and heavy and waved it around as a weapon. Wildly waving it around even those with knives seemed a little hesitant to engage in battle with me, with good reason too. This wood wasn't exactly light.

"Are you coming with us." Zeref asked the boy. He stared at Zeref and shook his head, seeming to retreat into his own mind because that was the only escape from what was happening around him. Zeref crouched beside him and gently put a hand on the boys'. To be honest, after being with these people for so long I expected him to pull away or at least cringe and bear it. But he leaned toward Zeref, like a moth might be attracted to a light bulb because they thought it was the sun. Zeref had a calming affect for some reason. Perhaps something supernatural, but I didn't know, and I didn't care. Zeref helped the boy stand and I still waved the stick around, knowing it wouldn't have an effect for much longer. We slowly backed away from the scene until we were in the doorway. The boy and I backed up a little further, but Zeref stood still "You two wait outside." he said quietly. I frowned,

"What are you going to do." Zeref turned around and gave him a small smile. A smile that sent shivers up my spine. An evil kind of smile.

"I'm going to go have some fun, of course." And the door shut behind him. I frowned, why had he left me out here? With HIM of all people. I glanced at him, at the boy, the boy I most definitely knew.

"Gray?" I whispered softly. A friend of mine and Lucy's and Erza's but he had disappeared many years ago. Some said he was murdered, other said he was a victim of human trafficking, others said he was kidnapped, ran away, committed suicide. But he was gone. I still remember the look on the teacher's face when Erza, Lucy, and I asked where Gray had gone after he didn't come back to school for a week. Of course, we were worried before that, but Lucy convinced me and Erza that Gray was on vacation and had forgot to tell. It had made since. We were still kids. We forgot stuff. The adults had tried to explain it in the best way possible but… there was no good way to tell a child their friend was never going to come back.

Gray didn't say anything. He just stood there. I frowned but didn't say anything else. I had no idea what kind of person he was anymore, or what he had gone through, or if he was capable of being saved. I don't know how that group of amateur rapists got ahold of Gray, but probably through trafficking because there was no way they were smart enough for that.

I didn't have the answers though, so I stood there, and I waited with my former friend (perhaps current? I wasn't sure.) We waited for Zeref to return though it's possible Gray just stood there and didn't move unless instructed to out of habit. That thought made me shiver. The demon was gone for no more than a few minutes and when he came back out, he had the white T-shirt back on, yet it was splattered with… with what looked like blood! "Tell me you didn't do what I think you did." I whispered. Sure, those people were bad, but I didn't think they deserved death. Lifetime in prison perhaps, but not death!

"I didn't do what you think I did." Zeref repeated obediently, licking some blood off his arm. "But Natsu… I thought you didn't like lying." The demon added as an afterthought. I glared at him and peeked inside the church for just an instant, but it made me turn away and gag. Bodies everywhere, blood splattering the walls, making my stomach twist and turn. I knew that my nightmares were going to be filled with images of this moment for a long time.

"How can you live with yourself?" I asked quietly, on my knees because I didn't think I'd be able to stand.

"What do you mean how?" he asked. "I simply gave them what I felt they deserved. For turning what is supposed to be an art into a sorry excuse for a single scribble." He crossed his arms. "You didn't expect me to let them get away with it, did you?" I growled under my breath.

"An art? Is that what you call it?"

"Yes, I admit. Art can be a bit messy at times but that was just an abomination!" I saw him walk over to Gray and I wanted to yell at him to get away, but I held my tongue. It's not like he would listen anyway, and it would attract people to the area and then only God knows what would happen. "They took such a perfect human." Zeref said sadly, gently stroking his face. "And they broke it." 'it'; was that all we were to him?

"It? So what? We're like your pets."

"Yes." He answered simply. I expected him to continue but he did not. Simply staring at Gray for the longest time.

"Can "it" be healed?" I asked.

"Like all broken things it can be fixed." 'fixed' I didn't like that word either. "However, the cracks will always show as it will never be the same again. And of course, if it breaks too much, eventually the fragments will be too tiny to piece back together and all trying to fix it will accomplish is cutting your hands on what remains."

"So… how…" I didn't know what to do, Zeref seemed to be doing just fine. He was treating Gray almost like a scared puppy and perhaps that was for the best as I had no idea how to treat him. "What do we do?"

"I thought you would know that. After all, it is you who is the human between the two of us."

"Human?" I jumped at the sound of my friends' voice. I had been starting to think he was incapable of speaking.

"You speak?"

"Who are you?" he whispered, eyes gliding over the two of them frantically. "Are you my new owners?" my heart shattering at those words.

"No." I said quickly. "We're here to rescue you, to help." I explained.

"That's what they all say at first." He said and his head drooped, like a rag doll's might. I felt the tears gathering in my eyes slip down my face. I didn't know what I wanted to do, assure him everything was fine? Tell him who I was? Hug him? I didn't know.

Zeref didn't give me a chance to decide, however. "Why don't we take him to Layla. She will surely know what to do."

"You call her Layla?" I sniffled.

"That is hardly the main concern as of now." He insisted. "Come on Natsu and…" Zeref trailed off. "What's your name, dear?"

"His name's Gray." I answered because Gray looked like he wanted to do anything but speak.

"Alright then. Follow me."

"I'll lead the way." I said. "She is MY girlfriend after all." Zeref shrugged,

"If it's so important to you." I nodded. It was. I wanted to see Lucy's reaction when she saw we'd found Gray after all these years. I thought she'd probably be happy at first and relieved but when we told her what happened she'd probably break down in tears. I didn't want Lucy to cry, but I didn't want her to be in the dark either.

We walked, Gray trailing wordlessly behind. Neither of us really minded this, or at least that's what I thought until Zeref grabbed his wrist and tugging, urging him to hurry up. I expected him to flinch at the contact and he did, but he relaxed far quicker than I would've believed. I didn't know if that had anything to do with just WHAT Zeref was or not, but I didn't think too hard on it.

Eventually, the two—three of us arrived at Lucy's house and I knocked. It was even later now, around ten or so. I turned to Zeref and noticed his still bloody shirt. "Take that off!" I hissed. Who knows what they'd think if we showed up with Zeref covered in blood and a naked guy? Come to think of it, perhaps we should've looked for something to cover him, but I had been too scatter-brained to think about it and no one but Zeref ever knew what Zeref was thinking.

"Coming!" I heard from inside the house. Gray perked up slightly at the voice, perhaps recognizing it for a moment before he went back to his original state.

The door opened, it seemed the Heartfillia family hadn't even bothered to lock the door even though it was late. Perhaps they had been expecting him. Unfortunately, "Oh, Natsu and Zeref and… person who's behind you two. Uh… see, my dad just got home but I guess you guys could come in for a moment. Who's that guy with you.

"Uh, Lucy, could you get a blanket or something. We ran into some trouble."

"Oh… yeah, sure." I had the door slammed in my face and I could hear Lucy's footsteps pounding up the stairs and voices, incoherent and indecipherable but definitely voices.

Then the door opened again, and Lucy handed me a blanket. "I don't know why you needed that, but whatever. You guys want to come in?" I nodded and wrapped the blanket around Gray before we walked inside. "Um… Zeref where'd your shirt go? And… where'd your clothes go…" she said squinting at Gray.

"Natsu ripped my shirt off." Zeref said a supposed innocent smile crossing his face.

"Oh… and the other guy?"

"Lucy… you remember Gray from Jr. High, don't you?"

She was silent for a few moments, obviously thinking back. "Oh yes, I do!" She exclaimed after a few moments her eyes lighting up in recognition. "But… I remember they told us he wasn't coming back to school. And despite the fact we were supposed to be little 7th graders who didn't know a thing but… we knew something bad had happened to him. We looked for a while, but gave up just like the police after a few months… why?"

Zeref grabbed Gray's shoulders and wheeled him in front of the two of them. "We found him the old church. I think he was some sort of slave…"

"Kidnappers?" Lucy wondered. The frown she had started to make went deeper. "What happened, how'd you escape?" she asked.

"I took care of them." Zeref said a small, knowing smile on his face. Lucy stared at him and I could see the fear that flickered in her eyes, unasked questions lingering the air such as, "took care of them how?" questions that didn't need an answer. Lucy seemed to connect the dots and realize why I had him take off his shirt.

"Oh…" she whispered, her hands forming fists. "I see. Well, I'll get my parents then. I know they'll know how to handle this." She said. "Mom! Dad!" she called, turning, disappearing around the corner, blonde hair trailing like a river of gold behind her. I found myself unconsciously smiling at those thoughts. Lucy really was a beautiful, wonderful girl. I was very lucky she was my girlfriend.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Zeref's silky voice tugged my out of my thoughts. I shook my head. Had he been a friend I might've told him. But I knew my answer would only upset him and last time I had rejected him he tried to break me and Lucy up in the worst possible way. "Thinking about her? Your girlfriend?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yes." I said, because if I was going to teach Zeref the importance of honesty I couldn't go lying.

"Why? I don't understand what's so special about her? She's just a girl." He frowned. "But I'm a supernatural being, flawless and intelligent! What does she have that I don't?" he demanded.

"Have you ever thought that perhaps I don't like you BECAUSE you're a supernatural being and flawless! Maybe I like her "flaws"! Maybe I think they're cute! Maybe I like that even with all these supposed flaws she's so lovely and smart and kind! More than I can say of you! Or maybe I just like the fact that she's actually human and I know she is capable of feeling emotions such as love and sympathy!" I glared at him. "Maybe I like her because she's beautiful on the inside." He stared at me for a moment, his mouth slightly agape. I could tell he didn't know what to say and to be honest, all that had come out of my mouth I hadn't prepared to say. I said things to him… things I'd never say to any other human being because of how terrible I'd make them feel.

Slowly, Zeref's gaze slipped from my own and traveled to the ground where he intently stared at one spot in the carpet, his arms subtly moving to cover himself, like someone who was self-conscious would. I bit my lip and then opened my mouth to tell him not to do that and that I was sorry, when Lucy came back in the room, both her mom and dad at her side. "Here they are." She said.

"Oh my…" Layla said frowning. "I'll call the police. They'll know what to do." her mother left, and it was now only Lucy and her father. Her father who didn't like me very much and who I was sure liked me even less now.

"Sorry for causing so much trouble." I said, because that was the polite thing to do and I really was sorry. Lucy and her family shouldn't have to get mixed up with everything that was going wrong in my life. It just wasn't fair to them.

"It's alright. It's not like you meant for it to happen." Lucy said sympathetically.

"Well I for one, don't appreciate you getting my wife and little girl mixed up in whatever crap is happening in your life."

"Father!" Lucy said, appalled. Her father rarely said things so blunt and callously.

"As I said, I'm sorry. But I didn't know who else to contact."

"This boy's parents." Jude said, his head tilting in the direction of Zeref.

"Sorry sir, he's a transfer student. An old acquaintance of mine who's parents sent him here for a while."

"And what about that boy in the back."

"Daddy, that's Gray Fullbuster." Lucy hissed. "You know his parents moved a long time ago because they couldn't bear to stay here a few months after Gray went missing. It's been six years since then!"

"Gray… I do believe I remember him. I fine young boy." Jude had always liked Gray better than me, though I never knew why. I think my pink hair might've thrown him off and thought me a rebel or something, so I would be trouble for his daughter. In the last few days that theory might just prove to be true.

"I called the police." Layla said, coming in. "They'll be on their way soon."

"Good to hear." Lucy said and smiled, looking relieved her mother had walked in because the tension in the room had been escalating by the millisecond. I didn't blame her for feeling that way.

"Yeah." I echoed softly. The six of us waited in the living room, sitting in an awkward silence, waiting for the police to arrive. I almost hoped they didn't come because I didn't want to explain anything. "Hey Zeref, I need to talk to you about something." I said after a moment, realizing that if I wanted to keep the police on our side, thinking us poor victims, Zeref couldn't just tell them the whole truth. I grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the kitchen.

"Listen…" I said quietly. "I just… we need to talk about right and wrong. Right now. Let's start off simple. Lying to me and lying to Lucy for your own selfish gain. That was wrong. Do you understand that?" he slowly nodded. "Treating us like toys. That's wrong too." He nodded. "Me hitting you 'cause I was mad… that's wrong." he seemed slightly surprised that I had done something I deemed wrong.

"You were wrong?" he whispered. "But… if you do wrong then what hope is there of me doing right?"

"Well, we can't be right all the time. Sometimes we're wrong, even if we don't mean to be. And that's okay because mistakes are okay. Doing wrong things sometimes doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you human."

"Okay."

"But here's what I need you to do. You can't tell the police everything, okay?"  
"You mean… lie?"

"Yes."

"But I thought-!" I cut him off.

"It doesn't matter, alright? Now listen. I don't know why or how, but I care about you. I really, really do… and there's nothing wrong with you, okay?" I grabbed his hands and squeezed tightly, making him open himself up more. "You're perfect."

"But I thought you said you didn't like people without flaws! You said-."

"I'm aware of what I said. And you do have flaws. They're what complete you, what make you perfect. It's how the people who care about you see you and if someone else can't see that about you then they're blinder than a bat."

He blushed. I made HIM blush. It was sweet and I found myself grinning like a dork. Feeling the need to tease him lightly I asked, "Why's your face so red? You have a fever?"

"No…" he said, his body relaxing. "I just find you so incredibly hot, I can feel your heat and it makes my heart race." His words made me relax a little. He sounded much like his old self which, while annoying, was much better than when he was subtly trying to hide his body, like he was ashamed or something. I did what anyone would've done… what any decent human being would've tried to do.

"So, you'll lie to the police? You have to make it sound like it was completely out of self-defense and there was no other way.

"I promise." He said and I didn't tell him, but his promises meant nothing to me. I didn't trust him enough for that.

"Then let's go." I hopped up, leading him back to the living room. Then, the sound of sirens filled the air and I think I knew why they were coming. Soon, they were outside, the sirens shut off and we heard a knock on the door but Jude had already been walking there so he opened it right after the policeman knocked.

Everything happened so fast, I was questioned about where I was, what was going on, and Gray was too, but he just shook his head and curled in on himself and he wouldn't talk no matter what the police officer asked.

After all the questions we were let go and Gray went back to the police station. They had already contacted his parents and I could hear the sobs even from half way across the room. I smiled lightly because those were probably happy, relieved sobs. After six years their son was found, alive, if a little damaged.

So, me and Zeref were walking home and I asked, "So, how is an incubus even born? Are they born, are they made? What?"

"Not even I know." Zeref said. I only know that I have been in this reality for millions of years. I know not where I came from, or if I had a life before but then… do any of us really?"

"I guess not. Who knows, in another reality we may be enemies…"

"You don't think us enemies here?"

"No, you're annoying, but if you were my enemy I'd already have beat the crap out of you." I felt him grab my arm and hang on to it tight, but even as I looked at him he didn't return the look, and just kept walking. "Zeref, I wanted to say, I'm sorry." I said. His expression didn't change, but he did look at me. "But… I don't want you bothering Lucy anymore. And I don't want you to try and break us up. That's just not what people do."

"But then how do they get what they want?"

"Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes they have to move on." I said. "They have to move on because they love someone so much they let them go."

"Let them go?" Zeref looked appalled. "What kind of idiot would do that! If you love someone aren't you supposed to hold on to them as tight as you can!"

"Yes, but if they don't love you back-."

"Then screw it!" he said angrily. "If they don't love you back you can't just GIVE UP! You have to show them your determination and keep trying!"

"Yeah, well if they love someone else, then you'd only be hurting someone that you love."

"Yeah but…"

"Sometimes, it's just not meant to be." I said, seeing him deflate slightly, his expression starting to calm.

"But then… how can you just give up? I don't… I don't understand." His eyebrows furrowed and he stopped us, dead in the middle of the street. I tried to keep moving forward, but his fingers dug into my arm and he was a lot stronger than he appeared.

"It's not something you can just understand…" I said. "It takes practice. I'll teach you."

"Teach me to let others take what's mine!" he accused. "Allow that… that woman to take you away when your relationship is destined to fail!"

"You don't know that yet!" I shouted, glaring at him. "Don't talk like you know us! Just because you've watched us doesn't mean you know who we are, and that's been made very clear!" I yanked my hand out of his grip and didn't flinch even as it left scratches on my arm.

"I… you!" he paused. "Well you don't know me either!" he shouted.

"I never claimed to!"

"Well I never claimed to know you either!"

"You act like you know!"

"Well so do you! You might not say anything but I can tell that you judge me even though you know less about me than I do about you! You act like… like I'm some being you can't hope to understand, like I'm bad or incapable of learning how to process emotions like you do! Like if I don't I'm some sort of freak! All you've done since I've gotten here is stereotype me and yell at me, and tell me you don't like me, and hit me, and glare at me, more! You banish me, try to order me around, and expect me to do things like you do and act like you do and think like you do and then hate who I am! Because I can't! I can't be the person you want and expect me to be!" tears gathered in his eyes and started sliding down his cheeks.

"Zeref…" I said softly. Was this a ploy? To get me to feel sorry for him? But then I thought about what he accused me of doing and realized I did do that though I had every right to because he had given me no reason to think otherwise. "Don't cry, okay. I'll try not to judge you." He kept crying softly. I honestly, didn't know what to do. People didn't cry in front of me often or… at all, really. I put an arm around his shoulder with my hand on his shoulder, and squeezed lightly. "Come on, let's go." He just looked at me expectantly. "Zeref?" he nodded and started walking. I hurried to keep up with him.

We arrived at my house at about 1 a.m. and I was completely exhausted. "I'm going to bed, Zeref. We'll talk in the morning. You can sleep in the guest room I guess, since you're going to be staying here for quite a while." I said.

"Wow, really? I get a room!" his eyes lit up, earlier anger and sadness apparently forgotten. I smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes, you really do. I guess I'll have to take some of my food money to buy you some clothes that actually fit too." I sighed. I'd also have to ask if my aunt could increase the money I got. Technically she was my legal guardian, but she was gone on business trips all the time so I basically lived alone. I'd worry about all that on a later date though. "Goodnight Zeref!" I called to him. He had been poking around my house again but the sound of my voice brought his attention back to me. He smiled,

"Goodnight!" he called back and kept poking around. I didn't want him to do that, but it wasn't like I had a choice. I couldn't stop him. Even if I tried as soon as I went to bed he'd just keep on doing it. And it wasn't exactly hurting anybody so I just shook my head and went to bed.

* * *

I grinned at my good fortune as I seemed to be back in Natsu's good graces because I got a guest room! I didn't exactly know what that was but I was considered a guest because I got to stay in the guest room! I was no longer that random demon that appeared in his room one day! This was cause for celebration! But how would I celebrate? There must be human customs on how to celebrate new-found love, right? Humans seemed to crave this love-stuff, so there was probably a special occasion for it. So, what did this call for? Natsu's computer of course! I logged on and started searching the web for celebrations geared for people in love. It didn't take me long to find something that sounded like JUST what I was looking for. "Valentine's day…" I muttered to myself in amusement and giggled like a school girl. "Valentine's day, Valentine's day!" it just sounded so perfect! So of course my next question would be how to celebrate it and lucky for me, with this tiny box I had the secrets of the universe at my fingertips! Perhaps humans were good for something after all…

* * *

I opened my eyes and yawned, sitting up. I decided that I'd skip one more day of school because I still felt a little under the weather and hadn't gotten the best of sleep last night. Sitting up I went downstairs to take some more medicine and paused when I saw pink and red decorations everywhere. Most of it was construction paper though there were some red and pink streamers I'd bought last year for a small Valentine's day party with Lucy and a few other friends.

There was only one person besides me who could've done this. And I most certainly didn't sleepwalk or grab scissors and cut little hearts out and throw them around the room. It was going to take forever to clean up. "Happy Valentine's day!" Zeref cheered, popping out of nowhere. The suddenness made me jump but I quickly recovered and sighed, looking around.

"What is all this?" I asked, frowning. "And what do you mean Valentine's day?"

"The holiday of love! There were a lot of things on the thing I saw, but I didn't know what those things meant." I rolled my eyes. For a guy who supposedly watched humans all the time he really didn't pick up on a lot of things.

"You should really research a little more." I said. He deflated a little,

"Oh… but I had to get started if I wanted to decorate in time! I'm celebrating our newfound love!"

"Love?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, love." He said. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Alright, Zeref, I think it's time we had that talk. If you're going to stay here, I should teach you a few things. For example, what we have is not love it's… comradery."

"No, it's-!"

"Hush." I said quietly, pinching his cheeks.

"Ow!"

"Moving on, there are some basic things you should probably know…" I kept going on and on, trying to teach him as many things as I could so he wouldn't be seen as mentally challenged or anything. Because I knew he was smart, just not knowledgeable. He just kept nodding again and again, but I was sure he was only half-listening. "Hey!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face when it seemed he had spaced out. He jumped and looked at me.

"What did I just say?"

"Something incredibly boring!" He groaned and wrapped his arms around my neck, hanging on. "Can't we do something else!" he whined and pouted.

"I just don't want people thinking your some kind of dolt."

"Well I can just kill them then." Zeref said casually. I shook my head,

"No, you can't do that!"

"How come?"

"Last night you got lucky. Those people were bad and the police won't ask too many questions. But if one of my classmates were to die… plus, I'd be very mad if you did that."

"Ugh, fine." he grumbled. "If it'll make you mad then I won't do it." I blinked, slightly surprised at such cooperation but I nodded.

"Okay." I said.

"Now can we do something else? I've got more Valentine's day things planned."

"What kind of things?" I asked. He dragged me excitedly to the TV that he had been so interested in yesterday.

"We can watch this!" he explained and turned it on. The channel it was turned to didn't have a signal so it was just a bunch of static. "Isn't it beautiful…" he said, enthralled. I raised an eyebrow and laughed. It was adorable honestly, how he was so clueless about this still. "Last time it showed a picture and stuff though…" Zeref frowned. "Is it mad? Are the aliens mad? Oh wait, you said those weren't real… do the signals not work."

"Yeah, I guess so. But I don't like cable much, hardly ever use it honestly. Instant streaming's way better." I got out of that live-tv stuff and started searching through movies on one of my many apps. "Don't tell me you want to watch a sappy romance?"

"Ooo, I could get pointers… but I wouldn't mind hard-core erotica either." He gave a wicked smirk. I had almost forgotten how experienced with that stuff he was and blushed madly.

"On second thought, maybe the sappy romance is good." I said, chuckling nervously.

"Fine, suit yourself." Zeref shrugged and I clicked on some romance one. The first I saw, honestly. What I hadn't known was that it was also a tragedy…

"But they were meant to be!" Zeref sobbed, shaking me. "How can you sit there with a straight face when these people's lives are RUINED!" he burst into a whole new round of sobs. "Is this how it turns out when people love each other? I thought I was the only one who broke people's hearts but does… does this happen to everyone? And how could they do this! Where's the rest of it!"

"The rest of what?"

"The rest of their lives!" he shouted and stood up. He pointed at the TV and said, "These things came out a little while ago and I never understood what was on them because I couldn't hear what they were saying and random images are boring! So, where do I find the rest?"

"Zeref… these are actors. It didn't really happen. It's just entertainment. Those people on there probably don't even really like each other in real life." Zeref stopped his rampage and looked at me.

"It's… fake?" he asked, frowning at me. I nodded, hoping he wouldn't blow up but he did… "I can't believe I cried like that! For a bunch of liars!" he glared at the screen like this heartache was its' fault (it kind of was). "But why wouldn't they make it a happily ever after?"

"Because sometimes real life isn't happily ever afters." I said gently.

"Its… not?"

"Nope." He sat down beside me, frowning, more tears slipping out of his eyes.

"But why?" he asked. I shrugged. I didn't really know to be honest. He pouted and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Can we watch another? One with a happy ending?"

"… I guess." I said, searching for another, making sure this one had a happy ending this time and clicked on another movie. I watched the entire thing, and Zeref was rather lively at first, grumbling about how he would've made this movie so much better. But after a while he became silent and I was glad, because he was ruining the movie.

When it was over I glanced at him, but his eyes were closed, his breathing soft and even. So this was why he had gone silent. Was he sleeping? But he said he meditated? Perhaps his conscious was still awake, but his physical body was sleeping? I supposed it could work that way. I didn't dwell on it and carefully moved his head from my chest to the couch. I draped a blanket over him and then went to go clean up the mess he made.

I cleaned up all the little hearts and things but surprisingly… I didn't have the heart to throw it all away, so I put it in a drawer. For safe keeping.

Then, I made some breakfast for myself, a bowl of cereal, and sat down to eat it. When I got to the table though, there was a card on it, a handmade one. From Zeref I supposed, but the sweetness of the gesture my heart skip a beat. I smiled and put it in with the rest of the other Valentine's day things, did the dishes, checked for texts, and then went back to the couch to watch more movies. I didn't really want to go anywhere today. It was cold out, the house was warm and everything was so much more enticing in here. So, I sat down next to Zeref who was curled up under the blankets, still "sleeping."

I found myself unconsciously grinning at him. Zeref was cute, when he wasn't being a narcissistic jerk who lied and took what he wanted without regard for how others felt…

I shook my head at the "sleeping" boy and sighed. How could someone so experienced and perceptive be so ignorant and gullible at the same time. What a contradiction he was. With his emotions, his objectives, and of course, my feelings toward him. Half the time I didn't know if I liked him or not. But one thing was for sure. He could definitely be adorably innocent when he wanted to be. "You dork." I muttered with a sigh. Because of his excitement, there had been one part of this ordeal that I hadn't had the heart to tell him because I honestly didn't want to crush his dreams, nor did I want put a stop to these festivities because they were fun and he had been so happy. It wasn't quite time to celebrate this particular holiday… at least by ordinary standards. "It's October." I muttered, laughing softly.

* * *

 **A/N So, I've tried to get this right, and I'm bored of this chapter so I really didn't want to look it over again. I hope it was still satisfactory anyway and that you enjoyed it. Today's Valentines day so I managed to slide the holiday in there and used Zeref's cluelessness to my advantage. I might be doing that a lot... not only is it convenient, but every time he gets confused I picture him with a clueless look and unconsciously smile, because in my head, it's an adorable look. Reviews/favorites/follows are all appreciated. Thanks for reading you guys. See you soon, bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up a little later in the day and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I hadn't blacked out like that in a long time, but I couldn't help the fact that Natsu was warm and comforting and the movie was the worst I had ever seen. Admittedly, I'd only seen two, but it was truly awful and so predictable. The one I'd fallen asleep to about some guy and girl who lived in the apartment building across from each other, or something like that. And then the tragedy about the innocent virgin and the bad boy. It had been pretty obvious half-way through the movie that things weren't going to end well for them. But I had been blindsided by the woman's death and how the man had indirectly caused it…

I shook me head to clear away the rest of my drowsiness and got up, "Natsu?" I started poking around the house until, on the counter I saw a note.

-Gone to the grocery store. BRB

I raised an eyebrow at the last line. BRB? Huh? I didn't understand so I took it literally. Now what could a berb be? So, I searched the web of course! Turns out, some things on there you don't want to find… apparently berb translated into being fat of some kind. Now, Natsu was very good looking… I didn't want him to be berb…

"I'll throw myself at his feet. I'll beg him… yeah, that's it. I'll ask what I did wrong, and if there's anything I could do to help." I muttered thoughtfully under my breath. It was perfect timing because I heard Natsu's front door open. I bolted up and ran down the stairs. Natsu turned to me, smiling and I fell to my knees in front of him and hugged his legs. "PLEASE don't become berb!" I shouted.

"Uh… what's berb?" he asked, frowning.

"You said berb, in your note to me! I looked it up and it came up with some urban dictionary thing! It thought I was saying verb, but this site gave me the meaning of berb and there were a few, but I found a few that agreed it had something to do with being overweight! I don't want you to be overweight! Don't you know you're perfect just as you are!"

"Uh… thanks, I guess. Zeref, you can't believe everything you read on the web. Also, I did not say berb, I said B-R-B. Which is an acronym for Be right back." I just stared at him, frowning.

"So… you're not going to be berb?"

"No, I'm not." Natsu said simply, unloading his groceries.

"Oh…" I said and got off the floor. Well, that was embarrassing.

"Sleep good?"

"Yeah." I said, twiddling my thumbs. "I was pretty tired. I haven't had a rest period in a while where I meditate so deeply I feel like I'm sleeping."

"So that's what it was." he said softly, finishing his task and turning to me. "But we won't be able to do this for much longer. Tomorrow we go back to school." I sighed.

"How do you humans go every single day?" I asked. All the subjects there were so boring and it wasn't like it taught you about real life, just how to do stuff write introduction paragraphs… dull introduction paragraphs.

"I don't know, you just do." Natsu said, fishing out his phone because it dinged. "Lucy wants to come over today…" Natsu said. "With Erza." He glanced at me. "Can you be civil." I pouted.

"I can be whatever you need me to be." I said.

"Then I'll tell them they can come over. But there better not be any monkey business… or I'll slap you into next week!"

"I believe it." I chuckled, rubbing my still, slightly sore cheek.

"You need any ice for it?"  
"I'm fine. I assured him. he rubbed my cheek lightly and then shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself." He said as he finished putting everything away. "They should be here soon. Remember, civil." I nodded.

"Okay." I said. He gave me a look and nodded again, "Okay!"

"I want you to repeat my sentence." He said. I rolled my eyes but nodded.

"Okay. Be civil… I don't think that's a complete sentence." He rolled his eyes.

"ZEREF!" he said with emphasis. "Be civil." I rolled my eyes.

"You made my name into a separate sentence. You paused too long." He glared. "Fine, fine! Zeref, be civil." I repeated obediently. Natsu nodded and then the two of us heard the doorbell.

"Civil." Natsu said one more time, and then opened the door. "Hey, guys!" I heard him exclaim and instantly felt jealous he was so happy to see them. I mean, he'd smiled at me, but that was it.

"Hi, Natsu." Lucy said, coming in.

"Greetings." Erza said as well, following Lucy in. "I heard the news last night. Has Gray really been found after so long?"

"Yeah." Natsu said, nodding. "Who knows how long he was here before we found him. If you had seen the state those people left him in…" Natsu trailed off and shook his head.

"Where are they now?" Lucy asked.

"Beats me." Natsu lied, shrugging. Slowly, I came into the room as well, feeling a bit shy because all these people were really good friends and I just… wasn't.

"Hey." I said, trying to sound cheerful and peppy, like I figured I was supposed to be on an ordinary morning such as this.

"Oh Zeref, how are you? The wounds better?" Natsu gave me a slightly questioning look but I ignored him and answered Lucy's question.

"Yes, much better thanks to you and Layla." I said.

"Oh, it was no trouble, really." She said. "I was just glad to help."

"Excuse me but… what wounds?" Natsu asked. Was he concerned? I felt my spirits lift a little at that, even if I realized he probably would've sounded the same way about anyone else he had met.

"Oh, Zeref just had a run-in with a gang, they roughed him up a little, nothing serious." Lucy assured him. "I thought he told you." Lucy said, frowning.

"Oh, yeah…" Natsu said quickly. "But uh… I didn't think they had injured him." Lucy raised an eyebrow and Natsu shrugged.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, "What has the news been saying about Gray? Is he alright?"

"The news said stuff about his condition, when he went missing, who found him,"

"Us?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, expect reporters coming to find you for a week or two, they really want to interview you two." Lucy said. Erza nodded,

"Indeed, it is likely you won't get much reprieve."

"You guys are like miniature celebrities!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing…" Natsu said frowning. "I'm not sure I want all of that attention."

"Unfortunately, I don't think it matters if you want it or not." Erza said. "But we aren't here to talk about depressing matters such as these."

"Nope, we're here to make you feel better!" Lucy exclaimed. "So, what do you want to do?" she asked.

"We could play video games. I've got some 4-player ones in case we all wanted to join." A video game? What was that? I didn't know, but I was probably supposed to, so I didn't ask.

We gathered in the living room and Natsu inserted… a disc, I think into some kind of weird box I hadn't done much research on. Then, the TV turned on and Natsu clicked on some icon with his controller. "This is a new one I got about a week ago." Natsu explained. "I've not played it yet, but it's supposedly really awesome."

"I don't doubt it." Lucy said cheerfully. "Oh, and we brought you your homework too." She said and then smiled sympathetically. "You too, Zeref."

Natsu just groaned. "No saying the H word in here. This is a fun zone only!" he exclaimed.

Apparently the game was meant for 4 players and we were split up into pairs of two. Natsu and Lucy were conveniently on a team and I got stuck with Erza. I sucked, I really did. I had to keep looking down at the buttons and I couldn't process what was happening on the screen fast enough to push the correct button. Thankfully, Erza was awesome, so we won… though I felt a little bad that she had to do all the work. And if I had been good we could've stomped Lucy and Natsu SO hard.

"Aww, you guys got lucky!" Natsu insisted. "Let's play one more time. Winner takes all!"

So, we, or rather Erza, proceeded to smack Natsu and Lucy into next week. It was rather funny, seeing their incredulous faces. "No fair! I was sure Zeref sucking would allow us to win!" Natsu pouted as he hadn't gotten the results he wanted.

"Hey! I could've been great!" I cried.

"But were you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I was silent for a minute before admitting,

"No."

"You know, Natsu, if you say it that way it sounds even worse because that means that Erza beat both of us on her own." We all glanced at her.

"What can I say?" Erza shrugged. "My dad and Jellal are both seriously into video games. So, they ask me to play with them all the time and you know I can't resist a challenge."

"Yes, Erza, we know you have a HUGE competitive streak."

"I'm just wondering how long it takes them to beg you to let them win." Erza seemed to think about it.

"Well, after about 5 games my dad throws dignity out the window. Jellal's never begged me to let him win but after ten games, when he stares at his hands with that dejected look on his face, it's time to let him win."

"Heh, the "are we here just to suffer look" priceless." Natsu laughed.

"Well I don't know about you, but I don't want my dignity to "go out the window" as you put it." Lucy laughed.

"How is it fair for one person to be so incredibly gifted at all things competitive?" Natsu wondered with a sigh. "You've never even played football before but you'd totally whip me at it!" Natsu exclaimed.

Erza shrugged. "It's my dream to be great at all sports." She said.

"And video games." Lucy mumbled to Natsu who laughed. Then, he stood up,

"Hey, why don't we go out somewhere."

"I thought you were sick?"

"Not that much, I was planning to go back to school tomorrow anyway. It's boring, I've been stuck in here all day, besides going to the store and that's almost worse! Besides, vitamin D is supposed to help you feel better, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So, let's go!"

"But where would we go?" Erza asked.

"I don't know, we could just walk around town, see if we want to go somewhere." Natsu said. "Preferably a restaurant!"

"I hear there's this new place in town. It's called Fairytail, it's supposed to be super good because they sell all kinds of things there."

"What type of restaurant? Like a café?" Erza asked.

"No," Lucy answered. "It's looks more like a tavern… but it's a restaurant. It's like their theme. I've heard some of our classmates talk about it. They all loved it."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Natsu shouted, hopped up, and took off. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

He was so enthusiastic it made me smile. And it wasn't just me either. All his friends were smiling too. I got the feeling that while Natsu passed himself off as ordinary, everyone else around him thought he was anything but that.

I raced out of the house and down our driveway, waiting for all the slowpokes to hurry up. Just what the hell was wrong with them? There was no need to go so slow! "Come on guys! Or are you too fat to keep up!" I taunted. I heard silence in the house for a moment before the other three emerged with violent looks on their faces. I took that as my que to get the hell out of there!

"Hehe, come and get me!" honestly, it didn't take them long to catch up. Erza because I think she's been training to run a marathon ever since she could crawl. Lucy because she got a burst of super speed when she was mad. And I didn't know enough about Zeref to figure out how he was able to keep up, but because of how beautiful he deemed himself, I didn't think he'd like to be called fat… or berb, as he puts it. I still wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I sure wasn't going to go around saying it anywhere except inside my head.

I was also sick so my nose and sore throat kept me from running to my full potential, but I was still a little dejected they were able to catch up so easily. It was saddening, to see all my training go out the window the moment I had a handy-cap. Erza was the first to arrive and grab my wrist, Zeref the second, grabbing the other, and then Lucy who growled playfully and leapt on my back, causing all four of us to fall on the grassy field of the park I'd run to. It was right by my house, and I went to this park often when I needed to cool my head. From any kind of stress.

"Aw, you got me." I pouted.

"Well, now that I've got you, you better take back what you said about us!" Lucy cried.

"Alright, alright. You guys are all real fit. Happy?"

"Most certainly." Lucy said, climbing off his back and we all stood up. "Now that that's settled, let's go eat some food!" I shouted.

My friends and girlfriend agreed so we went to the restaurant, Fairytail. It was a cool place, all dark, but somehow bright and cheerful, and lively all at the same time. In the bar area, people were a little more careless and snarky, but over in the restaurant area people were civil, making lively conversation with each other.

"Table for four, please." Erza said to the attendant, who nodded and told her it'd be about a fifteen minute wait.

"Do you even need to eat?" I whispered quietly to Zeref. He shook his head,

"No, but it's fun sometimes. I just don't understand this restaurant thing. People sit here and they wait in line, then they wait to order, then they wait to get served, then they wait for the bill. That's a lot of waiting!"

"Well for someone like you who can't seem to sit still for five minutes, I suppose that might seem a little ridiculous to you. But people like to be served and not have to clean up. Plus, the food's usually better."

"Or it can give you food poisoning."

"Rarely." I said. "I just can't believe you sometimes. You're impatient, you touch everything, you don't need to eat, you don't need to sleep, you don't get sick, I'm starting to wonder if you even need to bathe."

"Everyone needs to bathe."

"What about work-out?"

"You think this body is natural?" I didn't get time to answer, because just like that, fifteen minutes was up and we were shown to a table. "Don't these things cost money?"

"Yes."

"I don't have any money."

"I'll pay for you. But everything you don't eat we're taking home because I'm not letting my money go to waste. If you don't eat it, I will."

"Okay…"

After ordering we started conversing in our booth, Lucy and Erza sitting across from me and Zeref. We had some pretty lively discussion and Zeref appeared to be falling asleep on my arm, or perhaps he was just meditating again. I guess that was the case, since he claimed he didn't sleep. I suppose that interacting with all of us, and being visible to everyone was exhausting over long periods of time and maybe he wasn't fully recovered from last night.

"Does Zeref fall asleep in public places often?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't mean to be nosy, it's just that I don't think I've ever fallen asleep in a restaurant. Too noisy."

"Yeah well, if you're tired enough."

"I can imagine he didn't sleep well last night after all the excitement." Erza said. I actually didn't think he slept at all. I shrugged,

"Maybe not. He's kind of a busy body, always into everything at my house. He can't keep his hands off anything."

"Did he find your not-so-secret stash of model magazines." Lucy asked with a sly smirk. I flushed and said,

"Don't talk about that!"

"Hm." Lucy hummed in response. I'd been worried the day she found out, but she had laughed, actually laughed, and brushed it off. I guess she didn't feel threatened by those women in the magazines and for that I had to respect her. She was confident in her looks, though didn't flaunt them like Zeref often did. "Anyway, he must be really tired. You gonna wake him up to order?"

"Nah, he'll eat whatever I order." I said. It was probably true. I'd just order another dish I wanted. Since he didn't need to eat, if he didn't like it, good news for me. If he did, that was okay too.

Soon, the waiter did come back and asked if we were ready to order. I ordered for myself and the sleeping boy, and Lucy and Erza ordered their food too. The waiter smiled pleasantly and nodded, saying he'd get right on that and then left.

"So…" Erza said softly, her tone somber. "Six years ago, Gray went missing and we stopped searching for him after a little while but did you ever… think about him after still."

Lucy and I both nodded. "Yeah, I used to think about him everyday." Lucy said. "But as time passed I stopped and started moving on with my life. I still hoped he'd be found, but after a while, I just stopped thinking about it. I mean, there was nothing else I could do, so I just ignored it and did what I was supposed to do…" she smiled sadly. "Forget."

"That was my same reaction." Erza said, agreeing. Then, they both looked at me.

"Same here. I just sort of, put it to the back of my head. Where all the other long-term stuff went. But when I saw him in that church my memory was jogged after a few minutes of looking at him, and everything about him just came flooding back. I hope he's okay."

"Maybe he'll come back to school soon." Lucy said optimistically.

"Maybe." Erza answered. "But he's probably going to be away for a while. After that ordeal, you know he can't be okay. And he's seventeen like the rest of us. Would he even make it past finals? Considering he was held captive, who knows how he's developed differently from the rest of us."

"I just can't believe he's alive." Lucy said, shaking her head.

"Neither can I." I added. "I mean, when I saw him I was so confused. I though he'd died a long time ago. I mean sure he was still technically, "missing", but everyone had claimed he was dead years ago.

"Hey, Natsu…" Lucy said softly. "If you don't mind, could you tell us exactly what happened?" Natsu paused and thought about it. He couldn't really see the harm in it, as he trusted his girlfriend and Erza completely, but he wasn't sure…

"I guess." I stated hesitantly. "See, I went into the church to find Zeref and bring him home, 'cause I didn't want anything to happen to him. Believe it or not he's a bit oblivious to just how bad people can be. I don't think he was taught stranger danger very well. Anyway, as we were leaving this guy came out of nowhere and started flirting up a storm with the two of us. Mostly Zeref. Before I knew it they surrounded him, and had ripped his shirt off." I didn't mention Zeref had done it himself and continued on with my tale, "I was outside the circle and saw Gray. They made some suggestive comments and moves and eventually I snapped and grabbed a stick, waving it wildly around to scare them off. It worked and they started backing up. Me and Gray got the hell out of there but Zeref stayed and he..." I swallowed. "He…" I tried to think up a plausible lie because there was no way that Zeref could kill anybody. Or so they thought. "He got some good hits on them before running."

"The police reports said they were all dead, murdered." Lucy said, eyeing the two suspiciously.

"With psychopaths like those, it's totally possible they cracked up and killed each other."

"I suppose." Erza said. I hated lying to the two of them, I really did, but I had to because I couldn't tell them what Zeref had actually done, as I could lose them as friends. Zeref's viciousness, even in "self-defense" was a little suspicious.

"Then we walked to Lucy's house and that's pretty much the end of the story." I said.

"Wow, that's pretty amazing." Lucy said. I nodded in agreement.

"I still kind of can't believe it happened." I said.

"Well, it would be hard to believe that a child kidnapped six years ago had returned, in a stable physical condition." Erza said. "I can't say much for his mental state though…"

"If he ever does come back to school we'd be there for him."

"Most definitely." I said.

Then, our food came. Zeref stirred beside me, and blinked away sleep, sitting up. His head left my shoulder and he stared at the food put in front of him. "Huh, I guess humans don't have to wait that long after all." He muttered to himself and yawned.

I rolled my eyes. It only hadn't taken long for him because he'd been out of it the entire time. In reality, the food hadn't taken too long to come, but probably a whole lot more time than what Zeref was thinking of at the moment.

After we ate we said our goodbyes because all of us had to go home if we were ever going to get our homework done. Me and Zeref especially, though he didn't seem too concerned with homework. I suppose he didn't have to be considering he'd never really gone to school ever, so college wasn't even on his radar.

"I'm hungry…" I muttered. Zeref raised an eyebrow, looking confused.

"But… you ate your whole meal and finished mine too…" he said, eyeing me up and down. "How do you still look so good when you eat like that?"

"High metabolism." I said proudly. "Before we go home let's go there!" I pointed to one of the food stands selling food for charity purposes outside of grocery stores. Zeref sighed and rolled his eyes but he followed me over to the stand where I purchased some fries.

"Couldn't you at least get something with vegetables?" he asked me.

"I could, but I'm not." I said and popped some in my mouth. He rolled crossed his arms and I said, "You want some?"

"No." he looked appalled. "Do you think this body comes naturally?"

"Well… yeah." I said. Apparently we were getting back into the topic we'd been getting at in the restaurant. I popped some more in my mouth,

"It's not fair that you can eat like that and look so good." He pouted. "When we do eat human food even us demons have to watch for calorie count. I mean, sure we're born more beautiful than average, but we have to work to maintain that image, just like you humans. Sure we could gorge all day long and get fat but no human would want us then. And we demons aren't much into sharing."

"So it's a competition, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, sort of. If you don't look good you don't get fed so you die. Simple as that. No human wants someone who doesn't look good." He said.

"Well… you've got me right now. And I won't judge you." I said, holding some up. "You'll have plenty of time to look good again." he glared at me.

"You think you can tempt me with your devil food?" I held it up a little more in front of his face. You only lived once after all, even if I supposed he'd live forever. Though, if he hadn't ever tried a fry something was seriously wrong with him. "Well…" he said, staring at the perfectly golden, strips, with the intoxicating smell of potato and fried food. "Maybe just one." He said softly and took one, eating a bite out of it.

"Good?" he nodded and took another. Soon, he was the one carrying it, but I didn't mind.

"You and your devil food." He said, glaring. I shrugged.

"You know you loved it." I smirked and he pouted.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't tempted me—!"

"I didn't do anything of the sort." I insisted. "And you can't prove it."

"Alright wise guy, but you're not the only one who can entice people." He whispered in my ear, making my heartrate speed up. He kissed the corner of my mouth, I could feel his wide smirk against me as he buried his face in my neck. Yeah, we were right outside my house, but it was still embarrassing because we were technically in public and he had no qualms over what he was doing.

"Zeref, not here." I muttered, squirming. His hand drifted down to my stomach, pale fingers stroking, making me gasp. "What are you; don't- ung!" I didn't even know what that sound was!

"Not here? Maybe we could go in your bedroom then?" he asked slyly, pushing the door open. It was happening again, I could feel my instincts taking over. He went inside and I followed like an obedient puppy, closing the door behind me, my knees weak. Zeref had already torn his shirt off and pushed me against the door, his lips capturing mine, tongue thrusting into my mouth.

"Zeref." I whispered as he trailed down my neck and body, grabbing my hips.

"Wait, stop, stop!" I shouted and grabbed his hands. He pouted again and pressed his lips against my stomach, kissing lightly, tongue gliding- "No! No more!" I shoved him lightly away, his mouth coming away with a pop.

"Natsu." He whined. "I need more," he wrapped his hands around my waist, eyes pleading.

"No." I breathed. "Absolutely not."

"But why? I thought we were having a good time."

"Well… yeah I guess… until I wasn't, so just deal with it, okay?"

He was silent, "I won't pester you about it if you cuddle me tonight." He said.

"What is with you and being cuddled?"

"I just like it! Do you have a problem with that?"

"I guess not…" I trailed off and he kissed me on the lips, light and teasing, before pulling away.

"Fine, be that way you big stick in the mud." He said and went back over to the TV, turning it on. I sighed in relief, thankful he just dropped it like he seemed to be doing an awful lot lately. I felt a little bad for making him hold back, but I ignored that remorse as I reminded myself that he had no hold over me because I had a girlfriend and he shouldn't even be attempting to get me in bed with him. It just wasn't cool, and every time I kissed him it felt like I was betraying Lucy in some horrible, awful way, which in a way I was and I felt terrible about it.

"Zeref…" I said softly, sitting next to him. It was at moments like these that I started to doubt if I was a good person or not. I imagined Lucy's smile, her giggle, and how nice she was to everyone all the time. Then I thought about Zeref, how ignorant he was, how he'd lied to me and Lucy and used underhanded tactics to get what he wanted. And I thought of how he infuriated me all the time.

"Yes?" he asked, looking at me. I stared at him, his eyes questioning, a tiny smile crossing his face. Tell him, tell him you don't like him. Tell him you want him to leave. Tell him that it doesn't matter what he does because you will always love Lucy and that there's nothing he can do about it.

Tell him, tell him, tell him! "Is something wrong? Ooo, do you want me to do that thing where I give you something free of charge." He perked up, on his knees in an instant, ready to bolt to get me what I asked.

Tell him you love Lucy. Tell him he'll never be able to compete.

"Or do you want me to leave so you can think again." he looked a little less happy at that. "Or are you hungry?" I grabbed his hand and squeezed, thinking.

Tell him you hate it when he makes you feel this way. Tell him that you hate it when he makes it so hard to make you hate him. Tell him, tell him, you have to!

"Natsu?" he looked worried now. "What is it? What do you want to tell me?"

I hate you. "It's nothing." I said, and kissed his cheek. "I just don't like this channel." I flipped it to another.

"Oh." He said and cheerfully watched whatever I picked. Why couldn't I tell him? Because… because I didn't hate him… I didn't. Not even a little bit.

That night Zeref didn't sleep in the guest room but he crawled in my bed and wrapped his arms around my waist like he'd done the first night but I didn't feel scared anymore. I wondered why that was. If it was because I knew him a little better, or if I just knew he wouldn't hurt me… I didn't know which. "His name was Igneel." I whispered softly. Zeref perked up,

"Huh?"

"That first night… that photo you held. It was Igneel. He was my foster dad. He died a few years ago."

"Oh… so that's why you…"

"Yeah. Not a lot of people know that."

"Why tell me?"

"I don't know… because I just felt like it." I flipped over and he kissed me, again. A quick kiss on the mouth, chaste. "What about you? Where are your parents?"

"Don't have any."

"Friends?"

"Don't have any of those either." He said, and buried his face in my neck again, sighing in contentment.

"Really?" I whispered, frowning. He nodded. "Well then… that's not true." I whispered. "Because you've got one friend, right here." I whispered. "And I'm sure Lucy and Erza are your friends too." I said.

"I don't think so. Nobody likes being my friend." He said. "They all leave."

"I thought you were the one who left." I whispered.

"Yeah, because they don't like me anymore. I'm a means to gain pleasure, Natsu. Not a person." He said. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged tightly.

"Anyone who thinks that is full of crap, including you. You might not be human, I guess, but you've got feelings and stuff."

"No, I don't."

"Yeah, you do." I said. "And you're not going to convince me otherwise.

"I don't understand you sometimes, Natsu Dragneel." Zeref whispered.

"And I don't understand you any of the time." I said, grinning. He giggled, wrapping his legs around my waist and I didn't think anything of it. We stayed silent like that for a while, wrapped in each other's arms. "And I still can't understand why you picked me." I said.

"Hm, you looked bored." He muttered. "Bored people are interesting."

"That's not how the saying goes." I laughed softly.

"What saying?" I just shook my head and didn't answer him.

"It doesn't matter, I just can't see it. You're the one who's interesting, not me."

"You just think I'm interesting because you haven't met any other Incubus." He muttered.

"No, that's not it. You're just special."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing." He said. In the dark, I could barely see him, but the single sliver of moonlight, fell on the bare skin of his shoulder, as his T had slipped down to expose that one piece of pale skin and I had no idea why, but I had the urge to bite it. "You can do it, you know." He said. "Bite me. I don't mind." He'd obviously noticed my staring.

"No." I said, resisting. It was one thing for him to come on to me. It was a whole other thing for me to come on to him. He gently kissed my neck, giving me that tiny shove I needed. I bit him. I really bit him. On his shoulder and he moaned. I heard HIM moan and it made me so excited. I loved it, his moans, my new favorite sound. The flesh started reddening quickly and I could almost feel him gritting his teeth and it was so hot. I grabbed his wrists and pinned them above his head, kissing the skin I'd bitten. I heard him deliver another tiny moan, his mouth hanging open.

"Natsu." He whispered and I kissed him, slipping my tongue into his mouth, letting it roam around. He kissed me back, hard, his tongue battling with mine.

I ran my free hand through his hair, pulling my mouth away in favor of sucking his jaw line, trailing down to his neck where I kept sucking. He moaned my name, again and again, making those beautiful sounds. One thing I didn't understand was that Zeref had said he was always in control but it sure as hell felt to me like I was in control of what was happening here.

Eventually I stopped holding his wrists as my hands had other things to hold on to, and those thin fingers immediately found my hair and I could feel him grab it, as I kissed and groped him.

"I wouldn't mind." He whispered, biting his lip, looking at me with those eyes, filled with lust and need. "If you ripped these clothes off." Oh, he was evil. Pure evil. Like I could resist a clear invitation such as that. "Please." A needy, soft, tiny please, his lips drawing into a cute pout.

"You little…" I trailed off in favor of ripping his shirt off and undoing the button of his pants. He giggled, stroking my hair.

"Naughty." He muttered. "I thought you loved Lucy—."

"Shut up." I ordered. I ORDERED him.

But he didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to mind at all.

"Whatever you say." He said, that teasing little smile on his face, and I continued. Clothes on the floor, hands roaming, trailing kisses, gently. Like this, completely naked, with me on top, only my pants he felt and looked more fragile than I had ever seen him. And if I made the wrong move, I'd shatter him.

It was beautiful, the best night of my entire life.

I knew in the morning when I woke up that I would regret all of this, probably. I would probably hate myself for feeling this way about a guy who wasn't my boyfriend. I would feel horrible for cheating on Lucy, like the worst person in the world.

But here, in this room, in the heat of the moment. With Zeref, naked in front of me, his voice filling my ears, hands caressing my skin I couldn't care less about tomorrow.

I dropped beside him, breathing deeply. I couldn't go all the way with him, I couldn't. But I'd gotten further than I ever had and that scared me. Just a tiny bit more of a shove and who knew what could've happened? "I love you." He whispered to me. I smiled, but I didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it for a second.

"Okay." I said and wrapped my arms around him, pulling his slightly sweaty body toward me, kissing his forehead, and then quickly falling listlessly into a deep, thankfully dreamless, sleep.

* * *

 **A/N I'm REALLY wanting to know if you think I should up the rating. This here, is as far as I'm ever going to describe, but I'm wondering if I should still up the rating as it is rather suggestive. I would like to know if you guys think the same. I'm going to keep the rating the same for now, but if you think this warrants upping it I will. Ratings are rather vague as T says there may be some adult themes but just how far are you allowed to go until it's considered M? I don't know, so if you know more I'd like you to share that knowledge with me.**

 **Also, "berb" is not a real word but the site did give me some slang meaning. I do not own it.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Not many people have faved or followed or reviewed so that's kind of discouraging since it takes so long to make. I've been running out of inspiration for this so I'm not sure if I'll update it again soon or not or if I should just wrap it up in one more chapter or just leave it unfinished for a long time until I finish working on it... but tell me if you guys want more of this or fav or follow. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed, this might be on hiatus for a while since I'm not sure about it anymore... so thanks, maybe I'll see you next week... or in a few weeks. Bye.**


	5. Chapter 5

I was rudely awoken by the harsh beeping sound of my alarm clock. I slammed my hand on top of it and yawned, it was finally time to go back to school. I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted with Zeref's face, his eyes closed. I wrapped my arms around him and I felt him snuggle into my neck.

He moaned, his eyes fluttering open, blinking away "sleep". "Mm, morning." He mumbled.

"Morning." Natsu muttered back, kissing his forehead. Zeref smiled and closed his eyes and as I was about to do the same I remembered we had school and cursed because I hadn't done any homework yesterday. I laid there for a few more minutes and then sat up, stretching and then got out of bed to which Zeref whined and told me to come back to bed. "We can't, we've got school." I said.

"Can't we skip one more day?" he asked.

"No, Zeref. I'm already behind." I said, getting dressed. Zeref threw the covers off, but that was when I looked away, refusing to look at him in his naked glory. There was something much more embarrassing about standing naked and laying under the covers naked.

"But Natsu…" I could hear the whine in his voice and imagined him pouting. God, why did I have to think of that?

"Zeref…" I groaned as I thought of all the morals I was breaking. "We shouldn't have done what we did last night." Just like I knew I was going to, I regretted it.

"Oh come on. Don't go talking about Lucy and how she's your girlfriend, you love her, blah, blah, blah." Zeref trailed off. "Number 1, it's not like your married or anything. Number 2, I'm basically the reincarnation of human desire and sin. It only makes sense you'd want me. I'm made for this kind of thing. But last night, I could see lust in your eyes and I wish we would've continued a little longer. Guess you're just not used to it."

"Quit yapping and get dressed." I said throwing him some clothes from my dresser. I hadn't had time to go clothes shopping yet.

"Can't I just wear what I have on?"

"NO!" I shouted, buttoning my shirt. "Now, put it on or take a shower, or whatever. I'm going downstairs."

I started walking out of the room when Zeref said, "Guess you're not the spooning type!"

I popped him the middle finger and kept walking. "Uh, what does that mean?"

"It means I love your little comments." I lied and secretly hoped he started doing that to everyone in school so someone would beat him up. Though even if that happened it would be unfortunate for the other student, and probably me too.

Zeref came down about an hour later, looking beautiful, though he pretty much always looked that way so it was nothing special. "Just break up with her!" Zeref groaned.

"Then I can cuddle you in public." He gave me a pout.

"Even if I did break up with her, there's no way in hell I would cuddle you with other people around."

"So mean, Natsu." Zeref said. "There should be a school for mean people."

"I'm sure they'd welcome you with open arms."

"And they'd ask me if you were coming."

I scowled at him and he gave me a smirk and a giggle, pivoting on his toes he wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed the corner of my mouth. I didn't even protest this time, because I didn't know how I could.

He would do it anyway.

Maybe I should break up with Lucy. I knew she was beautiful, I was lucky she stuck around with me but… the spark we had was gone. And then, when I did kiss and make out with Zeref at least I wouldn't feel guilty about it. At least I would be able to do it whenever. Just because I broke up with Lucy didn't mean I loved Zeref… it meant I loved Lucy.

Besides, next year she was going to Stanford. Lucy had expressed how they'd grow distant. I had believed in us but Lucy hadn't looked so sure. I still loved her, still wanted to be with her, she was nice and we had been together for a little while now. I didn't want to break up but adults always said that high school sweethearts never got together in the end. What we had wasn't love, how could it be? I didn't know what that was, and I didn't think anybody really did. "Okay…" I said quietly.

"Hm?" he asked, turning. "Okay what?"

"I'll break up with her. If that's what you really want."

Zeref blinked at him, frowning, seeming suspicious. "Really?" he asked. "Because if you're going to hate me for it…"

"That won't be a problem, you've already managed that." I said coldly. Zeref recoiled, looking hurt.

"Huh, what'd I say?" he asked.

I ignored him because I couldn't deal with it. None of this was his fault… well, actually, most of it was. But it wasn't his fault I was sent over the edge. It was mine for not having any stupid self-control. But he had just looked so fragile and needy that I hadn't been able to help it! Even now, the way he was looking at me with wide eyes made me want to kiss and make up but… "Just tell me what I did wrong this time and I'll fix it!"

"I don't think that's possible unless you can turn back time." I grumbled.

"But… you… I thought you…" he trailed off, frowning.

"Yeah, I know, it's my fault too." I said. "I'm not trying to pin all the blame on you, all I'm saying is that… I just don't feel anything but lust, I suppose."

"But that's no good." He said. "My goal is to make you love me."

Last time I didn't give into his demands there was a huge mess. "Don't make me go to drastic lengths, Natsu."

"Zeref, sit down." I ordered.

"I already told you, you can't order me-."

"SIT!" I screamed and the other boy obediently did what he was told. I came over and crouched beside him. "You can't go to, "drastic lengths" just to make me love you! It doesn't work like that! I don't even know how love works but that sure as hell isn't the way! Now, listen to me, are you listening?" he glared at me, "ARE YOU!"

"YES!"

"Good! Love is not a playground like sex is! You can't just run around, flitting about, giving me sly touches, and smirks and call it love! It is a disgrace and insulting." Zeref opened his mouth but I cut him off, "And I don't care what you have to say! I'm going to break up with my girlfriend, the one I felt like I loved, because you showed up, had me like putty at your feet, and I realize I don't love her as much as I thought I did!"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted. "But I-!"

"I know you can't change it! You can't change who you are, I'm judging you, blah, blah, blah, whatever! This relationship is never going to work! It's unhealthy, and I yell, and you yell, and I hit you, and you cry, and I don't want to do that!"

"You've only hit me once! And you're not doing that now! And yelling is what happens when people get mad! It's not unhealthy it's emotion!"

I screamed in frustration and slammed my fist into the wall. One fist, two fist, three fist, four, on and on…

"Stop it! You're hurting yourself!"

Blood ran down the walls from the open wounds on my knuckles and bruising fingers. He cried, and I cried, and then I stopped. "We have to go to school… or at least, I have to."

"But… you're still bleeding." He sobbed.

"Yeah… I know. I'll bandage them up before I leave."

"I-I can get them!"

"… Alright, but if you take longer than two minutes…" but he was already gone at the word, "Alright."

He did return quicker than I expected and started bandaging my wounds, even though I could do it by myself. Still, it did go quicker with help and before we left I said, "You've still got some tears." I said, wiping some away. He wiped the other cheek and sniffed. "And I'm sorry I yelled. I'm just upset and… apprehensive…"

"Apprehensive of what?"

"Breaking up with Lucy. I know it's a good idea. I know if I don't it'll only hurt both of us but that doesn't make it any easier."

"If you don't want to break up with her, then why do it?"

"I don't expect you to understand it. You probably don't even grasp what the concept of loving is supposed to be."

"I find that assumption very offensive." Zeref said.

"I'm breaking up with her because I love her too much not to. She's too important to me. I'm not going to lead her on any longer when I'm having secret affairs in the bedroom with you!"

"Couldn't you just kick me out? I could live anywhere, honestly."

I stared at him suspiciously, "Why would you help me with that unless it was to better your own goals."

"Because I want to make you happy. Aren't sacrifices for those you love what love is all about?"

"Well… I wouldn't say all about…" I muttered. "But I guess it is a rather large part of it."

"So if you don't want to have sexual urges just… don't be around me so much."

"Isn't your goal to make me break up with Lucy and love you?"

"Yes."

"Then… why, I don't understand."

"I just told you I wanted to make you happy." He gave me a large smile. "You shouldn't have to break up with the girl of your dreams just because competition shows up. That's weak, and people don't like it."

"So, you'll step out of the picture?"

"… I'll be there when you need me. And I'll help you out in situations where you need help."

"So, yes?" I asked.

"I suppose in a way, it is correct to assume I will be "stepping out of the picture" or so you call it. I love you Natsu."

"No you don't."

Zeref pouted, "It's going to be hard to keep my own desires under control but there are lots of you women and men to prey upon in this town. I figure I'll be paying them a visit in their dreams soon enough. And unlike a certain stick in the mud, I believe that these people will actually enjoy my games. They always do. Most like it kinky."

"Just shut up about that, I really don't need to hear things like that about… well, about anything!"

"It's only a fact." Zeref said as the school came into view. There were still some students out walking around the school grounds but most had already gone inside to grab their books and get to class on time.

"Hurry up!" I reprimanded and started searching around for Lucy and Erza. They were more than likely to be there as classes hadn't quite started that and while Lucy was apt to go and get to class on time she didn't necessarily like to get there early. Though, honestly, none of us really wanted to go to class.

Least of all Zeref. He looked like he was about to die of boredom. They weren't even in the classroom yet! "Come on." I grabbed his wrist and started dragging him along.

"Ooo, you're touching me! Naughty!"

"Listen here you perv…" I muttered, glaring at him. "It's not… it's not…" I paused. "Naughty." I whispered, flushing red at the word. "So whatever things are going on in your head, stop them!"

"You're the one who's flushing at the word, not me. If anything, I'd say you were the one having dirty thoughts." Zeref smirked.

"Why you little…"

Zeref raised an eyebrow, "Little what?"

"Slut."

"Rude." Zeref said, appalled. "I am no such thing."

"You sure sleep around enough." Natsu said.

"No fair, that's my job. Remember, don't do that and I die a slow and horrible death. You wouldn't want that to happen to me, would you?"

"… No."

"I didn't think so." Zeref said just as we walked into the classroom.

"You're late… again." Ms. Strauss said.

"Sorry, miss." The two said and bowed, Zeref mimicking my actions before we each took their seat. I turned around and saw Lucy sitting there behind me. She gave me a dazzling smile and an, "I hope you're feeling better." Look. And she was so sweet that I was a little mad that Lucy was making it hard for me to do what I knew I had to. Even if Zeref said he'd "step out of the picture" I knew he wouldn't. Not really. And it didn't change what had already happened. The damage was already done, I didn't deserve her. We had to break up.

I waited though, until the day was over. She came up to me and I knew she wanted to talk about a date for this weekend. "Hey, Natsu." She said cheerfully. "So, it's your turn to pick this week. Where do you want to go on a date?"

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. "Um… listen, Lucy. About a date for this weekend, I don't think I can do it."

"Oh, you busy?"

"In fact, I don't think I'm going to be able to do it ever again." The shock on Lucy's face said it all. She understood what I was saying but she still didn't say anything for several moments. I saw her swallow and take a deep breath,

"What are you saying, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"I… I want to break up." She stared at me for the longest time, obviously wondering what had caused this change in me so quickly.

"What…" she whispered, I could already see the sadness in her eyes as she went through the stages of grief in an instant. "What are you saying Natsu? I don't understand… what did I do?"

"You didn't do anything Lucy, I just-."

"Is it my father! Did he say something to you?" she asked, her features slowly darkening. "What did he say? Spit it out!"

"Lucy, your father didn't say anything!" I shouted. "It's just…" I took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, so… I have to tell you something…"

"Okay… what is it?" she asked, visibly upset, but waiting for my explanation.

"I… I almost had sex with Zeref last night." I said. Lucy was silent for several moments, just staring at me.

"You… you… huh?" she looked like she didn't understand, like she couldn't see what I saw. "So… your breaking up with me because you love Zeref?"

"No, I'm breaking up with you because if I don't I'm going to be cheating on you, and I don't want to do that."

"Can't you just not cheat on me with him?"

"You don't understand, Lucy." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "It's complicated."

"Alright, then explain it to me!"

"Lucy… it's not just Zeref. I've been thinking about what you said. Thinking about what will happen after you go to California for college. I realized that your right. We won't be able to trust each other. We'll start seeing other people and then all our title as boyfriend and girlfriend will be just that… a title. I don't want that to happen. I don't want us to just be a title!"

"Didn't you also hear what I said about that not being for about a year! We can still date until then!"

"But why would I? Why would I want to date someone knowing we're going to break up? It seems rather pointless since you're supposed to date someone to see if you love each other but if it's not going to work out and you know it's not, then why let ourselves be in pain any longer?"

"It could still work out! Even with me going to Stanford we've lasted this long!"

"Yeah but think about it. I can't stop myself from cheating on you when we see each other every day. What's it going to be like when you are millions of miles away?"

"I don't know, Natsu, but couldn't we at least try!"

"As I said I don't see the point."

"Well I do! Why would I stop doing something I love! I love dating you and being with you!"

"You're the one that brought up the topic of perhaps having to breakup this year! Why are you suddenly so against it now!"

"Because it seems like we're breaking up for no reason!"

"What do you mean no reason?" I asked. "I'm cheating on you Lucy! I nearly had sex with another guy! Does that not bother you in the slightest!"

"Oh it bothers me, Natsu, a lot more than you could ever know! But I still want to try! I think… I think I love you Natsu."

"We're just kids." I responded. "I care about you deeply Lucy, I don't want to lose our friendship…"

"Oh face it, ex's can't be friends! It's impossible! And for that matter, I can't believe you're giving up this easily! How could you just walk away and leave! After everything we've done and after everything we've overcome, and all the plans we had for the future! Gone! All because you had sex once with Zeref! So you were horny, I don't really care! It was a one-time thing!"

"But it could happen again! That's the problem! And I didn't have sex I ALMOST had sex!"

"Does it matter? Lucy I just… I don't want to hurt you."

"I understand, but it's a little late for that." She responded. "I REALLY thought we had something special Natsu. Was I just another pretty face until the next one came along?"

"NO! It's not my fault. Zeref's just-."

"Don't talk about Zeref! You can't blame him for what YOU did!"

"I'm not blaming him! I know I'm at fault too! But you've got to understand Lucy, there… Zeref he… he's different." Lucy crossed her arms,

"Just what are you saying, Natsu? You took pity on him because he's 'different'? You slept with him because he's 'different'? What is it?"

"Well…" I stayed silent. I couldn't tell her. She'd think I was crazy, desperate, SOMETHING! "It's nothing, Lucy. Never mind. This is my final decision. We're through."

"Fine…" she said and clenched her fists. "I guess that's it then…"

"Lucy…"

"I don't want to be dramatic and scream at you never to talk to me again and stomp off but that's what I REALLY want to do right now. I know you're a good person and all Natsu, but I just can't deal with you right now."

"I understand." I said. I did. I wouldn't want to talk to me either.

"I'm glad. I need some time to cool off before I can yell at you rationally." I always had loved her sense of humor. Though it was more bittersweet as of now. I wanted to make it work with her, I did. But I didn't trust myself enough for that. Didn't trust myself not to hurt her in the end.

I watched her go and didn't even try to call after her, even though I wanted to with all my heart in that moment. All I wanted to do was beg her to take me back. But I knew she wouldn't. Not because she didn't want me, but because she knew I needed to break up with her. She was a good person, selfless, like that. Not like Zeref, that little pest. Where was he anyway? Usually he was joined at the hip, unwilling to let me out of his sight for even a moment. I started walking around campus, looking for him. Had he been any other person I would've abandoned him and walked home to wait, but knowing Zeref, he'd gotten himself into some kind of trouble.

With my keen ears I heard a breathy moan from somewhere around where I was at. It was definitely Zeref's moan, how could I have mistaken it? I listened hard and then heard it again, several times, long, constant. So, naturally, I followed it and arrived upon Zeref and some other woman in an alley, half-naked. "WHAT is going on here?" I asked, unable to filter it. The woman paused what she was doing and seemed horrified they'd been found like this but Zeref didn't appear ashamed. Big surprise. He only turned to me with a mischievous grin and said,

"Well, what a surprise we have here!" he gave a small laugh. "We could make it a threesome, if you want."

"I don't want to make it a threesome, who is this man, I don't know him." the woman crossed her arms.

"And you know Zeref?" I asked.

"For a few weeks." She said. "We met soon after I had a dream about him. It was a bit strange, but I'm thrilled he was interested in me." She bit her lip and not-so-subtly caressed Zeref's chest.

"I see…" I muttered. "Zeref, don't play your mind games with innocent people!" I scolded.

"Well you're not giving me what I want so I have to get it from somewhere." Zeref said. "Sorry if that means I have to sleep around." He shrugged.

"Just how many people have you been with!" the woman asked. "Are you saying we didn't have something special?"

"Baby, that's not true. Don't listen to the jerk, I hardly know him. Probably just some man-whore, looking for attention."

That did it. "Zeref you lying slut!"

"Ah, no dirty-talk outside the bedroom." He winked.

"You've been two-timing." I said, glaring.

"So have you." He smirked. I clenched my fists. He wanted to be that way? Fine, I'd play his game.

"Not anymore, and by the looks of it, you haven't been two-timing, it was probably more than just this one girl, wasn't it? How many?"

"Five girls and two guys." He said like it was no big deal. "That's not including the woman I'm with now or you."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here! And my name's Ultear, for your information. I've told you twice now." Zeref shrugged and ignored her. Appalled by his blatant disrespect, Ultear slapped him, yanked her clothes on, and stomped out of the alley. "Never contact me again!" she yelled.

"Aw, you just cost me a meal, Natsu." Zeref pouted. "She was good too."

"I don't care. You'd better prepare yourself."

"Why, are you going to punish me?" he asked innocently.

"Yes." My honesty seemed to surprise him, but he recovered quickly and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? So dirty. You gonna spank me?"

"You'd probably enjoy that."

"I probably would."

"So it's not much of a punishment then, is it?"

"I suppose not. So sad." he didn't looks sad though. "So how are you going to punish me? I'll admit, I'm not as much a masochist as a sadist, but honestly I can be whatever you want me to."

"Oh you'll see." I said. "You'll get the punishment of a lifetime."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

I was silent then. I had no idea what I was going to do. The words just kind of kept coming out of my mouth. "You want me home in an hour babe? So you can get the toys ready?"

"It won't be anything like that, perv." I said, crossing my arms. He just gave me a teasing smirk and shrugged.

"If you say so. But I'll be eagerly waiting."

I rolled my eyes and stomped thinking of how he infuriated me so much. The words that rolled off his tongue just made me want to kill him!

Then, I came up with the perfect idea for a punishment. It was perfect and cruel, but not inhumanly so. I absolutely loved it and it would sure teach him a lesson. I skipped all the way home, grabbing some thin rope at the store on the way. Nothing rough, that would hurt his wrists, just something to keep him immobilized.

Then, I waited for him to return and he did a short time later. "I'm ready for my punishment." He said. "But I don't see paddles or canes anywhere which leaves me disappointed. No spanking then? How cruel."

I rolled my eyes. "Just come on." I said and started up the stairs. He followed me. "Lay down on the bed." I said. He looked at me suspiciously. "Face down."

"Maybe spanking after all."

"Just shut up." He did as I said then and I grabbed his hands, tying them behind his back firmly and I did the same with his feet too.

"You didn't undress me…" he muttered.

"No, I didn't." I said. "I honestly find you slightly repulsive right now." I said. He pouted. "And I'm also very tired of you talking. I find that too much of one voice can get very annoying."

"Aw, that's not very-."

"That's why for this punishment you will not be allowed to talk until you apologize for all the people you've hurt in the past, present, and probably future too. Including me."

With that, I slapped a few layers of tape and instantly felt better. Zeref wasn't talking. It was glorious. Zeref glared at me and muffled sounds did come out of his mouth but I ignored them, took my homework, and went downstairs to get it finished.

I was doing homework for a while enjoying the silence when I noticed something wrong. It was TOO silent. Slowly, I got up from my chair and went upstairs to go check on Zeref. Maybe I should've stayed in the room, but I didn't want to hear his whiny vocal cords. I opened the closed door of my bedroom to see Zeref, thankfully there, and asleep or meditating or whatever it was he did.

I sighed in mild relief. I don't know what I thought had happened, but I had been thinking it was something bad. I didn't blame myself either. Who knew what went on in Zeref's head or what drastic measures he was willing to take to get himself free. He was on his side now, and I could see tear-stains on his rosy cheeks. I awed, anyone would've. He was cute, sleeping, except for the tears. I found that made me feel a little more guilty than anything. Because unlike some people (Zeref) I had a conscience. "Zeref." I said softly, coming over, shaking him awake. He opened his eyes, probably still feeling the soreness of tears because he squinted for a few moments.

I waited for another minute or two, enjoying the last moments of my sanity before I ripped the tape off. He yelped and tears welled in his eyes as he tried to blink them back. Then I untied the ropes.

He rubbed his mouth, "That really hurt Natsu!" he exclaimed.

"Why were you crying?" is what I asked, ignoring his earlier statement.

"Because you ripped the tape off!"

"No, before that!" I demanded. I brushed some hair out of his face. "I DO care about your well-being, emotional, physical, whatever."

"Oh you care about my physical…" he smirked.

"Shut up. Can you go one minute without saying some stupid pick up line."

"Sorry. I was crying because you left me alone. I don't like being alone, immobilized, and unable to speak. It reminds me of my own dimension. It's quite lonely there."

"Couldn't you have just become like a ghost, where you can't touch anything if it bothered you so much."

"I didn't want to back out of the punishment." Zeref said. I sighed and he hugged me, which I decided to allow and even hugged him back. "It's okay." I said.

"I hope so." He muttered softly and sniffed. I could tell he was about ready to cry again maybe.

"You really don't like your dimension, do you?"

"I was trapped in utter isolation, starving, for millions of years…" he whispered. "I never want to go back there. You humans are social creatures. You need interaction with each other to be at your best. But we Succubus and Incubus depend on social interaction to survive. So being alone for so many years was so hard on all of us. I never want to be alone ever again. I'm sorry if you don't understand or that sounds weird but…"

He sniffed and clutched my shirt tighter. "I wouldn't have left you alone if I knew." I said.

"I know. Please sleep with me tonight." He begged.

"You want to make-out again?" I asked, not impressed.

"No, just hug me please." He said. I paused, unused to requests like these. But I supposed this was the cute part of him. The part not sex crazy.

"Okay." I said after a little while and he curled up to me while I did the rest of my homework. I tried telling him he should do some too. But he ignored me.

And at the end of the day, I still held him throughout the night. Whether it was because of guilt or compassion, I didn't know. But in the end, did it really matter?

 **A/N I feel like this chapter is missing something, but I don't care. Next chapter I think I'm just going to hunker down and try to get to the main conflict because I feel this "slice of life" thing, isn't going anywhere. So, lot's of conflict in the next chapter hopefully. I just want to get this story done. I've tried to add things to it, but it still feels like it's missing something. Next chapter I'm going for more depth and after this, since things are getting serious, Zeref won't have as much time to be a perv like Incubus apparently are in my opinion. Hope you liked the chapter, and I hope you didn't feel like something was missing. I just want to finish this story so I can start another one or hunker down on something else. So, hopefully updates will come once a week from now on, maybe twice if I'm really going for it. Thanks for reading. Reviews/favorites/follows are very much appreciated. Hope you have a good day. Bye.**


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up to a crash in my room. I heard rustling around the dark room and truth be told it made me nervous and a little scared. "Zeref." I whispered softly. Then, I heard a bang. That made me bolt out of bed and flip the light switch.

Zeref, and a woman. She looked a lot like him, in the sense she appeared supernatural. Long, wavy hair that reached her ankles, and huge cathartic emeralds. "Zeref it's been so long since we've seen each other." The woman complained, hugging the surprised boy with her slim, yet strong arms. I frowned.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"I'm Mavis!" she said, looking at me. "You?"

"I'm Natsu." I said, unsure if I should tell her my name. But she smiled and waved, seemingly much friendlier than Zeref was.

"Oh, hi Natsu! It's so nice to meet you!" she said, hopping up. I extended my hand for her to shake, but she ignored it and hugged me instead. "Zeref has told me SO much about you."

She was much more enthusiastic then even I could be. "He has?" I asked.

"Oh yes, tonight, he told me about how you punished him. That's so mean, Natsu." She said an innocent frown making it's way across her face.

"Zeref, who is this woman?" I asked.

"She's Mavis, Natsu. Don't tell me you've already forgotten her name." Zeref said sarcastically. I glared at him.

"I mean, why is she here? In my house?"

"Well, you see. She's the closest person I have to a friend in the underworld." Zeref explained.

"Baka! We are best friends!" Mavis declared, giggling softly. She kept on smiling beautifully for a minute or two, but slowly her face turned grave. "Sadly though, Zeref… I am not only here for a visit."

Zeref raised an eyebrow. " _She's_ looking for you. Ankhersam." Zeref froze, his eyes going wide.

"Mavis, tell me you're joking." Zeref said. Mavis shook her head, frowning sympathetically.

"I wish I was joking, Zeref but… I'm not. She's really looking for you. And she's bringing Larcade with her as well."

"Larcade?" Zeref rolled his eyes. "Does she think she can persuade me to come back to her if she flaunts a child around in my face."

"I don't understand." I said softly. "What's going on here?" I felt like I was interrupting a conversation that didn't include me. Mavis glanced at Zeref and then sighed.

"Zeref was a little more… precious in his younger years."

"I slept with a God." Zeref stated bluntly. "Ankhersam. Needless to say, she was furious when I left her pregnant to go prey on some other being. She was the best meal I'd had in a little while, as those times were part of the dark ages. However, the Gods aren't nearly as abundant in… sexual desires as humans."

"That makes me feel oddly dirty…" I muttered. Zeref shrugged.

"I'm not sure if it has anything to do with having dirty minds or if it's simply a primal instinct to reproduce and survive as much as possible."

"Yeah, but you make it sound like the entire human race is slutty."

"Everyone has undeniable urges. Some are just different then others." Mavis chirped. "Now then, what are you going to do about her Zeref. When you walked out on her the last time, she cursed you!"

"Cursed him?" I asked.

"Yes." Mavis said. "One of the worst curses our kind can get! The Curse of Contradiction, everyone calls it. Anyone Zeref loves romantically is killed within twenty-four hours."

"That's terrible!" I shouted. "But if that's so, how is he still alive?"

"Yes, it seems Ankhersam overlooked one minor detail. If he loves anyone romantically this occurs. However, the curse has no affect over relationships he sees as platonic, meaningless or… or purely sexual." Mavis said. "It is a rather bleak life, as we dream demons relish in the feeling of being loved and loving others, however our returned love is not necessary. Only the human's is." Mavis glanced at Zeref. "But Zeref, if she finds you again, she will not overlook this fact and most likely make it so you will die a slow, painful death. A horrible death. What are you going to do?"

Zeref shrugged. "I honestly don't know." He told her. She frowned, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Truly? Then we should probably start trying to figure it out."

"Mavis, it's pointless. If she wants more revenge, she's going to be able to take it no matter what we do. It doesn't matter if we look through billions of books, trying to find a way to stop her. It won't matter! She's a God! If she wants to curse me, then rest assured she will curse me and there's nothing I can do about it."

"So you're giving up?"

"… Yeah, pretty much." Zeref said with a shrug. Mavis looked at him, appalled.

"Zeref… you can't just quit and forfeit your life! Natsu, help me out with this!"

"… Everyone's life matters Zeref. You shouldn't go throwing away your own when so many dead people wish to live. You can't be a living person wishing to die. It's just not right!"

Zeref sighed. "But I don't think there's anything we can do!" he reasoned. "She is a God! What are we supposed to do? With our ragtag team of Succubus, Incubus, and human! I hardly think that's enough firepower to destroy a supernatural deity with powers and strength we can't even imagine!"

I had never seen Zeref so upset. Sure, he was rather emotional, but he'd never sounded so… frantic, scared… "She's already ruined my life, Mavis. And I have no idea why she's searching for me now, and I don't want to know! All I want to do is get away!"

Mavis stared at him sympathetically. "Yes, I know. But as you said, she is a God, Zeref. No matter where you go… she will follow. And she's bringing Larcade with her, of course. I don't know why that is, but I can only assume it's to hurt you more in some form."

"Yes, I know this." Zeref said softly. "So how am I going to escape it?" I frowned, unsure of where I stood in this. I felt it was wrong that Zeref had left Ankhersam pregnant. I didn't even know that could happen, but apparently it could. And the curse Ankhersam had put on Zeref seemed horrible. Like the worst kind of punishment. And now that it was all over, I did feel a little angry at the thought of Ankhersam coming back to take something more from Zeref when she'd already punished him. It seemed unfair.

"I'll help you, Zeref." I said.

He glanced at me and snorted. "That's cute." He said, smiling at me. "But you're human. You can't possibly hope to help in any way." I did not back down and stood confident, crossing my arms.

"Zeref you are the most annoying person I have ever met. But, you're also—"

"Sexy?"

"Well, yes but—."

"Adorably ignorant of human customs?"

"Yeah, but—."

"Well then Natsu, I've got news for you." I stayed silent, waiting to here what he was talking about. "You see, that was all an act. I persona I wanted you to see me as. It wasn't real, and I was using you. Using you to get what I wanted and craved, love. I wanted you to love me even though I knew I could never feel the same, so I spouted out meaningless words to string you along."

"I don't care." I cut him off. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"What?"

"I said I don't care." I took a deep breath and sighed. "Listen… you may have used me all this time. You may have not meant a single word you've said this entire time you've been with me, but it doesn't matter. You deserved to be helped, because no one deserves a curse like the one you have. And so, I'm going to help you get rid of it. WE are going to help you get rid of it."

"We?"

"Yes… I'm telling my friends about you guys."

"I'm not sure that's such a bright idea, Natsu." Mavis said worriedly. "I mean, they might not believe you, and we really can't have humans running around telling everyone about us. After all—."

"No, it'll be only me and my friends. They'll believe us if you show them what you're capable of and… and without you, if they tell anyone, people will think they're crazy. It will be in their best interest not to tell and my friends are good people, and they're not stupid."

"Let me guess, you want to tell your girlfriend?" Zeref sneered. I glared at him.

"Yeah, I do. I trust her. We've been friends for a while, we dated for two years. I trust her more than anyone else in the world! I also want to tell Erza… and Gray too, if I can find him."

"Gray? He's probably still traumatized, and you want to bring him into this?"

"Only if he wants! He's my friend also. I don't wanna leave him out just because he got hurt! Gray always loved doing dangerous things with me while the girls told us we were being stupid. He was my best friend for the longest time, as well as my greatest rival… so I'm going to ask him if he wants to come, because this here is gonna be the most dangerous/stupid thing we've ever done!"

"I don't doubt it." Zeref muttered.

"Come on Zeref, he just wants to help." Mavis said, grinning and then she turned to Natsu. "Zeref is so lucky to have found a human like you. If you would help us, we would be so grateful. Right, Zeref?"

She nudged him with her foot and Zeref sighed. "Fine, alright. But anything we do to go against her is going to be dangerous. As long as you understand that, I suppose there's no reason why you and your friends can't come." Although Zeref looked like he wanted to spout out a million different reasons why me and my friends couldn't come. Mavis smiled brightly.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Then you can tell your friends and we can all go on an adventure together! Gah, this is so exciting!" she cheered happily.

"I beg to differ." Zeref mumbled. "For your information I would find it much more appeasing if an angry God WASN'T out for blood… well, I wouldn't mind if she was out for blood if it wasn't MY blood… that would be kind of hot…"

"Have you learned nothing?" Mavis asked dryly.

Zeref gave her an innocent smile and shrugged. "I like to think I have learned some things. In fact, I've learned a lot of things. But it's very boring to walk around the world, knowing everything. Plus, no one likes dry facts or philosophy spouted out to them. They think dirty talk and skimpy outfits is much more alluring and I can't say I disagree with them. So, while I could walk around acting like an old man, I don't think my health would benefit from it. Also, I have a taste for blood. I am a sadist after all."

"That was a much more in-depth explanation than I personally needed to hear." I said frowning.

"Maybe we could try it sometime, Natsu."

"I don't think so." I said. "And why are you acting like a prick again? I much preferred it when you are just… there."

"Sorry, what was that? Your mouth was moving but all I heard was, 'kiss me baby'."

I gave him a dirty look and groaned in annoyance. "Why do I even try?"

"I don't know." Zeref said.

"Are all you guys like him?" I asked Mavis.

"Zeref is… special." Mavis gave a small smile. "But naturally we do whatever turns the humans on. Especially if they're full of the love of which we thrive on."

"From what I've gathered so far is that you would much rather have me docile and quiet, which is unfortunately, not my original personality."

"Actually…" Mavis trailed off, frowning a bit. "You were much more thoughtful before Ankhersam cursed you."

"No one asked you." Zeref snapped. Mavis didn't flinch like I did, even if the harsh words weren't directed at me. Mavis simply looked concerned. She sighed and shook her head, seeming to drop the subject.

"We shouldn't waste time arguing." She said sensibly. "Natsu, if you wish for your friends to help then you should go get them as soon as possible. I don't know when Ankhersam will strike but I know it will be soon, so you'd best watch your back."

"Why?" I asked. "I thought it was Zeref she was after."

"Well, it is, but you're close to him somewhat so you should still be careful. I don't know how angry she is, or what exactly she wants from Zeref."

"Probably what's left of my soul."

At first, I thought he was joking, but Zeref's solemn expression made me doubt my original thought instantly. "So, uh…" I interrupted Mavis and Zeref's intense staring competition awkwardly. "I'll enlist my friends to help us. I'm sure they'd all be happy to."

Zeref sneered. "Oh yes, I'm sure they would." He said sarcastically. I was honestly, generally confused.

"Why wouldn't they?"

He sighed. "Well for starters, most of them barely KNOW me. And Lucy, the only one who might know me a little, and I've stolen her boyfriend. I'm sure she'll be THRILLED to help me."

"Unlike you, Lucy's not the kind of person not to help someone just because they're troublesome. She's not cunning or mean or rude. Even if you're horrible to her, she'll want to help you."

"Yes? Well not even she knows me, none of them do."

"I know you Zeref…"

"No you don't!" he shouted and glared at me.

"I'm trying to know you. But you make my life in general, difficult. I'm not sure what you want from me half the time."

"Sex! Love! Whatever! Just feed me already so you can kick me out of your life and get it back on track! Just give me what I want and I'll leave you stupid jerk!"

"If you want to leave so badly you could just go." I said hesitantly.

"And leave my challenge and experiment unfinished? I don't think so!"

"But you said you wanted to learn to love. But with this new information, I know that's impossible."

"Well… I thought perhaps you could somehow love without real love."

"That's an utter contradiction."

He shrugged. "If anyone could do it I figured I could." He said, smirking lightly.

"Pretty confident, aren't you." I said dryly. He only nodded appreciatively.

"Yes, I am. In fact, I'm confident enough that I know I can defeat this God without you and your stupid friend's help."

I frowned. "The hell's the matter with you? We're only trying to help!" I growled.

"I don't need your help. The lot of you are incompetent and will most likely just get in my way." Zeref sniffed. "I suggest you simply continue on with your normal life and leave everything to me. I'm a professional, obviously."

"Professional?" Mavis looked amused.

"Fine. Be that way." I muttered, glaring at Zeref.

"I will." Zeref said.

"Fine! Great! I'd LOVE to get rid of you!" I shouted.

"Yeah, well you're not so peachy yourself! You're always yelling at me!"

"That's because you're unbelievably annoying!"

"Right back at you, buddy!"

"Then get out of my house! Get out!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

He gave me one last withering look and then disappeared instantly. Mavis was just standing there, frowning lightly. "Natsu…" Mavis said softly, staring at him.

"Yes, Mavis?" I asked haughtily.

"Please help him." Mavis said, her eyes wide and pleading. I glanced at her and inwardly groaned. From what I'd seen so far, Mavis was such a sweet woman. Combined with the look she was giving me how could she expect me to say no?

"What about _Zeref_." I spat out his name.

"I'll talk to him, I promise. Just please help him. He just doesn't want you getting hurt 'cause he cares, Natsu. That's why he's so insistent on you not coming. Not because you're incompetent-." Though I knew likely was, "-but because he cares about you." She said.

I stared into her large emerald eyes for another minute or two before I finally caved and sighed. "Alright, I'll help, but not for him. For you." He said.

"That's just fine." she said, though gave him a knowing look. "All I ask is that you help."

"So, you'll come with me to convince my friends to help us?"

"Yes, I will. With my presence you will be able to convince them. Let me talk to Zeref first though."

"What if he doesn't agree?"

"Oh, he'll agree." An odd spark passed through her eyes making me shiver. I didn't think I wanted to know how exactly she was going to manage that.

"Alright, I'll wait here" I said.

"Good, I will be RIGHT back." She said and disappeared from the room as well.

* * *

I was angry with Natsu and myself, but also sad and scared, and mostly just confused. I wasn't sure what to do anymore, and I certainly wasn't sure how to feel. I did want Natsu's help, but I didn't want to put him in danger, and it was true that I did not like his friends, nor trust them enough to let us help.

I barely came here anymore. I glanced around the dark empty space of my home dimension. So black, nothing but me was there. I didn't like it here, but I had learned to appreciate isolation in some odd way. When I was first cursed, I was glad this was my dimension, empty, and void of living things I could kill. And it was a blessing, while I learned to suppress any romantic feel and turn it into something either purely sexual or purely platonic. It took a long time, but I managed.

I didn't come here anymore, unless I wanted to be isolated. Unfortunately, I apparently couldn't achieve this state even here, because Mavis popped into existence behind me.

"Zeref…" she came up to me, her hand brushing mine. I glanced at her.

"All he wants to do is help." She told me.

"I don't want or need his help." I told her. She sighed.

"DON'T make me do this the hard way." She said, glaring at him.

"I'm not making you do anything." I glared at her. She sighed, grabbed my collar and proceeded to yank me down to her level.

"Hard way it is." She said. "We're friends, Zeref, but I am not above blackmail."

"I know you're not." I grimaced slightly.

"Good. So, you know it's best to stop being stubborn and just do as our told."

"Yes…" I said softly.

"I want to help you. And I am going to make you let me."

"I know…"

"Good." Then, she smiled hugged me tightly. "Now, I hope you know that I am going to kick that stupid God into next year."

"I know that too." I said exasperatedly.

"So, we're going to go back to Natsu, and we're going to let him help?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go. I know you don't like it here anyway." I nodded.

* * *

When Zeref and Mavis reappeared in my bedroom, Zeref didn't look nearly as shaken up as I expected him to. But I supposed it didn't really matter. "Now that we are all on the same page again." Mavis said with an exasperated look at both me and Zeref. We both shrugged sheepishly. I felt a little bad for getting so riled up over almost nothing. "We can get back to what really matters, okay? And we have our next goal in mind?"

I nodded. "Yes, recruit."

* * *

 **A/N I know this is a short chapter compared to the others but there really wasn't much to add after this, but as promised, here's the new chapter. I've been working on it all day, so I wanted to get it out today so I can start on the next soon. Thank you Guests for your reviews I'm glad you are enjoying it and wanted this new update. You encouraged me to write more. I was so excited you reviewed..**

 **To Venti: You probably won't read this, but I am disappointed you don't read 1st person but I am glad you thought the premise sounded interesting. I knew i was not following the norm with posting this fic in first person, but I wanted to try something that I don't usually do anymore, even if I personally prefer to write in third person and read in both. I just really wanted to get in-depth with the characters and their reasoning.**

 **The next chapter will most likely be out next week around Friday or Saturday, as I try to update around then. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Reviews/follows/favs are very motivational and help me update when I start to doubt myself and feel this story is garbage. It's true, I am my worst critic. See you guys next time. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

Even with Mavis and Natsu's encouragement, I was still apprehensive about this plan to get Natsu's friends to help. Honestly, I didn't want Mavis or Natsu's help either, but obviously that was happening no matter what I wanted.

However, getting anyone else's help, especially Lucy's… I especially didn't like her. She was a nice girl sure, and that was exactly the problem. Who knew what would happen if she and Natsu started spending time together again? New passion, rekindled romance, and just like that; even if I got this curse removed, it wouldn't matter. Because the one I truly loved would never love me back, and that was possibly an even lonelier existence.

At least cursed, I had an excuse for not loving people, and for people not loving me back.

"I'll go talk to my friends. Zeref, you're coming, yes?"

Well, it was my problem, so I had no choice but to nod, trying to think of a way out of this situation without any repercussions, and even with my scheming abilities, this time, I could not, for the life of me, think of how to get what I ultimately wanted. All this time, the games, the gestures, it had been to gain Natsu's love, and it had only succeeded in making Natsu more annoyed with me. He claimed he cared, but not in the way I wanted him to.

I thought I had gotten everything out of the way. First, I made my appearance, and I struck my claim to him. Next, I tried to get rid of his girlfriend. That backfired the first time, but eventually I got what I wanted. And all the while I did little things for him. The valentines, the TV, the emotion, the innocence, the ignorance, the cuddling, the kisses. It was all designed to make him love me. And every other human bit the pieces as I laid them out, but Natsu, God! Natsu didn't do any of that, and it made him annoying and yet more fascinating all at the same time. I did everything I was supposed to, everything right. So why couldn't he love me? Why didn't I get to claim his heart? And why the hell wasn't I allowed to break it?

I thought this as Natsu and I walked down the stairs. All the vulnerability, the past heartbreaks, the sympathetic past. I had it all! So why didn't he love me? Why didn't he say it? "I'm gonna text all of them first." Natsu said, grabbing his phone in the living room.

"Alright." I said.

This device, still confused me a little, I assumed it was somewhat new, or all the people before me either didn't have one or didn't use it in front of me. Either way I still didn't know how it worked really, and that frustrated me so I kept trying to capture little bits of info about it, so I could hopefully use it later for my benefit.

"Okay done." Natsu said.

"Now what?"

"Well, how about we wait for an hour and if they don't respond, we can call them." Natsu said. I didn't really want to wait but what else could I do?

"Couldn't we have sex while we wait?" I asked, a smirking smile on my face.

"Do you really have to kid about everything!" Natsu shouted, his face blushing red.

"Aw, you're embarrassed."

"Shut up, no I'm not!"

"If you say so." I said, my tone lilting. Natsu scowled at me and I only stuck out my tongue.

"Honestly, Zeref, don't tease him about it." Mavis said good humoredly.

"Whatever, it's not like you don't tease about having s—."

"Shut up!" Mavis said. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Listen, Natsu. Not all of us are pervs, so don't think that."

"I won't…"

"That's like saying not all humans are stupid." I said. "I mean, there's the occasional smart one, but most of them are dolts."

"Hey! I resent that comment!"

"Probably because you know it's true." Natsu's frown deepened when he got a ding on his phone. Natsu snatched it up and his eyes widened. "Gray… he actually wants to come."

"Gray?" I asked. I had thought for sure that was one of Natsu's friends who would say no. "He replied pretty quickly."

"I can't imagine he would be doing much right now." Natsu frowned. "He's really only going to a therapist I hear. He's even homeschooling. Not really much contact, I don't think his parents ever really let him out of their site anymore."

"They moved back?"

"Yeah, they did. They're staying in a hotel at the moment, but they're going to find a house as soon as the old one sells and me and a few other friends are going to help him move in."

"That's nice." I said. So that's what friends will do sometimes. They can even do things as simple as helping their friend move into a new house and it would still be as good as saving their life, because sometimes it didn't matter what you did in the heat of a horrible moment, it was all the tiny things put together that mattered.

Then, two more dings and it looked like Erza and Lucy were okay with meeting up too, if everyone else was.

-I'm bringing a new girl.

I peered over Natsu's shoulder to see what he was typing. Either he didn't notice me or he didn't mind.

-Alright.

From Lucy. And then two more dings from Gray and Erza pretty much saying the exact same thing. "Look they all want to help you." Natsu said.

"All you texted was that you wanted to meet up with everyone, not that you wanted a pretty huge favor from them." I pointed out. Natsu shrugged.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine. They're definitely going to want to help you, don't worry." Natsu waved his hand like everything would be just fine when I knew for a fact that nothing was ever, "just fine". There were always complications, always mishaps, always disturbances. And there were always people that never wanted to help me. In fact, there were plenty of them. I frowned slightly, still not convinced of his words. And I wouldn't ever be convinced. Not until the words, "I'll help." Left their mouths and I knew for a fact that was never going to happen.

"Come on, we're meeting in Magnolia Central Park. Lucy and Erza got permission from their parents. Gray's going to… uh… sneak out." Natsu said a sheepish grin crossing his features. I raised an eyebrow.

"Won't that just cause problems later? His parents will be worried."

"Gray left them a note. It'll be fine." Natsu insisted. Mavis and I looked at each other. I shrugged so Mavis sighed and gave in as well. Then, we all left and started for the park. Again, I was still a little nervous about doing something like this, asking people for help. People I considered practically stranger and had no reason to want to help me, except for the fact that I was friends with Natsu…

We arrived soon, as Natsu lived really close to central park. It did take about ten minutes of waiting, but Lucy, Gray, and Erza all showed up, which I honestly hadn't suspected, but then again, I probably shouldn't be so surprised. Humans usually kept their promises.

"So, Natsu, why'd you want all of us to meet up?" Lucy asked when they'd all walked over. The other two nodded.

"Alright… I've got a lot of explaining to do." Natsu took a deep breath. "I suppose… it started a week ago when Zeref showed up on my doorstep."

They waited for him to continue. "Or rather… in my room."

"He climbed in through the window?" Erza glanced at me with weary eyes.

"No. He just appeared. Teleported if you will." Now they all looked confused. "For the past week, I've been lying to you… all, of you. Zeref is not my ex. I hadn't even known he existed until a week ago. And he's not a transfer student, he's not seventeen years old, and he's not human either…" Natsu took a deep breath. I could tell this was hard for him. "You see, he claimed to be an incubus."

"And you believed him? He probably just lied." Lucy said, her brows furrowed, probably refusing to believe something so ridiculous. Honestly, if I wasn't that said incubus, I probably wouldn't believe Natsu either.

"I was skeptical at first. Of course I was. But Lucy, he did amazing things. He floated in the air on multiple occasions! He displayed unnatural strength, he pinned me to a wall, and he could've done anything. I wouldn't have been able to fight back…"

"How can you expect us to believe that?" Erza asked.

"I'll show you." I said quietly. Lucy rolled her eyes but sighed.

"Fine, show us."

I licked my lips and in an instant I was levitating off the floor.

The three stared at me in utter awe. "Why Natsu?" Erza asked, the first to recover.

"He said because I looked bored and boring people were interesting."

"That's not how the saying goes." Gray said with a small frown.

"I wasn't aware I was contradicting any 'sayings'." I said. "This was just what I thought.

"Alright, well if you've been lying to us the past week." Lucy looked annoyed. "Then how come you're telling us now?"

"We need your help."

"Figures." Gray muttered.

"Listen, the reason you're here is we need your help. Zeref's been cursed by a God he banged and left."

"That was the weirdest sentence I have ever heard." Erza said.

"Not me unfortunately. Zeref's said a lot weirder things than I just said." Natsu assured his friends. "We need your help to get Zeref uncursed."

"Alright, well how do we do that?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure Zeref knows even a little." Natsu said, glancing at me. I nodded.

"I know a thing or two." I conceded.

"Okay… and didn't you say you were bringing another girl? Where is she?"

"Mavis, come on out." Natsu said, glancing to a space seemingly empty for the rest of them. When Mavis materialized I had to admit, their shocked faces were a little amusing. I smiled knowingly.

"Mavis is a Succubus." I explained. "And only the person who she is attached to can see her at all times. Everyone else will only see if she wants them to see. It's the same with me." I said.

"Wait, so you can watch people do anything, even in their own home, and they wouldn't even know you were there?" Erza asked.

"That's right." I said with a small smirk. "I can watch anyone do anything all the time and they would never know I was watching them."

"That's creepy."

I shrugged. "It's not creepy, it's just a fact." I said.

"Okay… so you got cursed. What's so bad about it?" Erza asked.

"Anybody that he loves romantically, dies." Natsu told her. "It's pretty bad since Incubus and Succubus basically need that to survive."

"So how's he alive?" Gray asked.

"Well… all relationships he sees platonically or… or sexually." Natsu said with a shrug.

"So he sees YOU as a plaything he can do whatever he pleases with?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I see all of you as my playthings." I smirked.

"So this is your real personality? Not the innocent boy you played at my house."

"A front, everyone has one you know." I said.

Lucy still didn't look happy. "And why should we help you."

"Because he's my friend." Natsu said. "And I help my friends. I hope you'll do the same."

All of Natsu's friends glanced at each other and were silent for a while. "Well… he did help get me out of that slave situation, so… I owe him my life. I'll help him." Gray said.

"That's one."

Erza was still frowning but she glanced at Gray and nodded. "If Gray's going to help him, then I will as well."

Lucy scowled, her eyes narrowed. "Why should I? He's nothing but a creep who stole my boyfriend and lied to me and everyone else. I don't see why he deserves to be helped."

"Please Lucy." Natsu said. "He's a good person, I know he is. He has to survive by feeding off people just like me and you!"

"But why did he choose someone single? If he could have anyone, why you? Because you were interesting he saw it fit just to destroy us even though what we had was love and not sexual!"

"Hey don't blame me for your boring relationship."

Lucy glared at him furiously. "What is your problem! Can't you just be nice and butt out of our lives!"

"I could… but that doesn't sound like very much fun."

Erza gently put a hand on Lucy's shoulder and squeezed to calm her down. Lucy took a deep breath and sighed. "Despite how horrible of a person you are, everyone deserves to have love." She said, looking sad. "So fine, I'll help you. But I won't be happy about it."

"That's all we ask." Natsu said.

"Thank you guys so much!" Mavis cried cheerfully. "Zeref's a little… rough around the edges but he's so sweet and he really appreciates your help."

"Whatever." I sniffed.

Mavis elbowed me and I grunted, rubbing my side and glared at her. "I'm grateful." I muttered.

"You don't sound it…" Erza gave Lucy a look and the young girl sighed. "But I'll take what I can get." She said and shrugged. "Alright, so where do we start?"

I sighed, glancing at her. "I was afraid you'd say that."

 **A/N Uh yeah, super short, I'm sorry, but hopefully next one will be longer. Reviews/follows/favorites all appreciated. Thank you, and I'll see you next week. Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright then, let's get started." Natsu said. I was still apprehensive about letting these people into my life but apparently, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter which I suppose I didn't really mind considering there was no way I'd be emotionally capable of dealing with this on my own.

"First of all, how do we even speak with this God, and how on Earth do we get her to leave Zeref alone."

"I imagine I must make some sort of deal with her." I said. "She was always one for negotiations. As for how we get there…" I trailed off, because this was the part I really wasn't happy about. "We must enter the supernatural realm… my realm. From there, we can get to the world of Ankhersam."

"You make it sound rather simple." Lucy said. "But how do we get to your realm."

"To get to my realm you all must be attached to either a Succubus or an Incubus. Natsu is attached to me, and I imagine Mavis can take on one of you, which means we still need two more."

"Then call them up." Natsu said.

"It's not that simple. As I've said in the past we are solitary creatures… or rather, solitary from each other. None of us are on very good terms with each other, so I'm not sure we're going to be able to get their help unless there's something in it for them, or some threat looming over them. I suppose, in the end, we are rather selfish, preferring to take what's ours rather than share, and destroy anything that happens to get in the way."

"You did say something about how you didn't talk to the rest of your kind often." Natsu said. "I never imagined it was because you didn't like each other."

"Yeah, well it is. I'm not sure we're going to get them to help unless they want to be attached to these humans, and do you know the best way to do that?"

"What?" Everyone asked.

"We have to make them beautiful and interesting, by human standards as well as Incubus and Succubus." Mavis answered them.

"I think Erza and Gray will make perfect subjects then." I said, subtly getting a jab at Lucy in there, hinting she wasn't as interesting and beautiful.

"Why won't Lucy work?" Natsu asked with a frown.

"Well, for one thing we are attracted to humans with… certain sexual background issues."

Gray crossed his arms self-consciously. "What do you mean."

"Basically you're a charity case." I said bluntly. "Then also like humans with endurance and I imagine Erza has more of that."

"I'm afraid to ask." Natsu said. "So I'm not going to."

Erza flushed red and Lucy looked both insulted and embarrassed. "You're not supposed to say things like that to a woman." Lucy accused.

"I've banged more women and men in my life then you eat meals in a billion of your pathetic human lives."

It was one thing humans never understood about us. All they saw were sexual beasts who only wanted easy prey. But we were romantic beings as well, we aimed to please, and wanted humans to love us. And it hurt me. Hurt to know I was going to say goodbye to an eternal stream of humans as they lay dying, loving and not loving each and every one of them.

Even Natsu, would one day be gone… and I knew I couldn't think like that so I shook off the horrible feeling and the fear of having to watch him die, just like all the other humans.

"Now then, let's make you interesting. Or perhaps not… I suppose it's very likely you already have an Incubus or Succubus considering how interesting you are."

"How do you know?"

"I can sense they're attached to you." I said.

"What? How could there be someone like you with us without our knowing?" Erza asked.

"Not all are like me." I said. "I prefer my intimate prey to know what I am, because I'm a big fan of completely honest relationships." Natsu snorted.

"That's the biggest lie you've probably ever told." He said, shaking his head. I shrugged a tiny smirk on my face and then turned back to the young humans.

"For all you know, it could be anyone you know, but I have a feeling you're already starting to understand who it is." I said slowly as looks of realization started crossing their faces.

"Jellal couldn't be…" Erza whispered.

"That girl who's been following me around to 'keep me safe'." Gray muttered absentmindedly.

"Those are probably the people I'm talking about. Our first instinct is usually correct, after all."

"But it can't be, Jellal's been my boyfriend for years! How could I not know such a thing about him…" Erza muttered, shaking her head.

"We can hide in plain sight very well if we so choose." I said, smiling a bit. Humans were always so interesting. I never knew how they were going to react to certain information, or anything really. It was always a mystery. The only thing I could count on, whatever reaction they gave, it was very likely to be emotional.

"I'm not sure how to feel about this…" Erza said, frowning.

"You can call them, if you wish."

"I didn't know we could call you." Natsu said.

"Well, it's our choice whether to come or not, and it's not like you're actually calling us. But, we can tell whenever you need us, and we can come if we so choose to."

"Go ahead, call them. Think about them, about needing them."

"Jellal did always seem to be there when I needed him most all these years."

"And that crazy girl pops up sometimes after I… after I think about what happened for too long. For some reason, she calmed me, kind of like how I feel around you two."

"Yes, we are known to sooth people in distress. Especially if that distress is caused by sexual situations. But really, I suppose we can sort of calm any distress if we try hard enough."

"Those are some weird powers you guys have…" Natsu muttered. I smirked mischievously and shrugged.

"Go on." I said, ignoring Natsu, and encouraging the other two. Erza and Gray glanced at each other, and then closed their eyes, in what I could only assume was concentration. Apparently, they brought their needs to the surface because Jellal came casually walking down the street. Another blue-haired person, this time a woman, jumped out from behind a bush.

"Is Gray-sama alright! Juvia feels like he needs her help!" Juvia threw herself on Gray's arm. "Does Gray-sama need Juvia to make it better?"

"I… yeah." Gray said. Jellal went for being a little more natural.

"Erza, I almost didn't see you there. What are you doing out so late?" Erza glared at him, grabbed his collar, and yanked him down to her level.

"Tell me are you or are you not an Incubus disguising yourself as my boyfriend in order to have sex with me."

I could help but chuckle slightly. Some demons were obsessed with sex, but others preferred the more romantic side of things.

"It's more likely he wants to marry you and have children if he's stuck around this long." I said. "Some Incubus and Succubus settle down with just one partner and that partners love and affection is all they need. For others, we like to sleep around, but is that really so wrong."

"So which one are you, Jellal?" she asked, her hand tightening.

"I… I was hoping you'd never find out." Jellal mumbled softly.

"God! You really weren't going to tell me, were you! You piece of crap!" she shouted at him and then took deep breaths to try and calm herself down. Jellal hung his head ashamedly. "I'm… I'm really, really mad at you." She muttered, crossing her arms. "Mad you lied and kept something like this from me. I'm mad you couldn't trust me enough to be open with me."

"No, Erza, it's not like that!" Jellal insisted. "I was just afraid you'd think I was crazy, or something!"

"We can talk about that later." Erza snapped. "Right now, Zeref needs our help and—."

"Wait Zeref?" Jellal asked, frowning. I sighed, really wishing she hadn't said my name. "Why would I help that prick?" Jellal asked, and then turned to me, glaring. "This guy's the one who tried to manipulate me into breaking someone just because he was mad at the way they broke up with him!"

"You did what?" Natsu asked me, turning.

"The guy was a total jerk about it! He called me ugly." I defended myself.

"Zeref, you can't let what other people say affect you like that! You gotta know you're beautiful and ignore anyone who stupidly says you're not!"

"Yes, but he called me fat! And I still hate him because now I've vowed never to have candy, cookies, or cake ever again! The worst part was that he was right!" I wailed. "I weighed a whole 143.5 pounds!"

"Uh… that's like, normal." Natsu said.

"Yeah, but I'm a supernatural being! I'm not supposed to be normal, I'm supposed to be above average!"

"So you're supposed to be more pounds than 143.5?"

"Huh? Well, no…" I flushed red. "I just mean—."

"It doesn't matter what you mean. It matters that you're beautiful, no matter what anybody says. And if you're ugly, I don't even want to know what I am." Natsu laughed.

"You? You're perfect!" I said.

"See. You think I look great, and I think you look great, so we both look great, so it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, right?"

I wasn't really convinced, but I stared at him and I knew the only thing I could say was, "Yes. That's right."

"Great, so that's settled." Natsu said, smiling.

"back to the matter at hand, why would I ever help him?" Jellal asked.

"Because he's been inflicted with a terrible curse." Erza said. "And we are good people. I want to be able to help him, so I need you to be able to help him. That's why I called you here."

"Yeah? You really need my help?"

"Yes."

"… Then I will help you." Jellal sighed. "But I'm only doing it for you. Not for him. I don't know what lies he's been feeding all of you, but I do know that he's not a good person. He's rotten as they come." Jellal said, glaring at me. I only smirked back at him.

"Jellal, that's just not true." Mavis said, frowning at him. "Zeref can be mean but he's not cruel. It's just hard for him to make friends is all. He's a good person."

"You're a good person, Mavis. And he's corrupted you in more ways than one."

"No, he hasn't. I make my own decisions."

"he MANIPULATES you." Jellal said. "I've been around him long enough to know what he's really like."

I laughed. "Oh Jellal, you were always bitter after I stole your girlfriend all those years ago. Merudy, wasn't it?"

"You just shut up!"

"What? Are you afraid I'm going to steal Ms. Scarlet now?" Jellal gave me a look that could only be described as murderous.

"Hey, don't give me that look." I waved my hands. "She's not my type anyway. Besides, I have Natsu~!" I threw myself on top of him. Lucy glowered at me.

"Yeah, well this time you stole my boyfriend. There are plenty of single people in the world you know."

"You're just mortal, so it's different." I said. "Stealing someone who is connected to another Incubus or Succubus is very rude, I'll admit. It also hurts the other Incubus or Succubus very badly. But let's let bygones be bygones, Jellal." I smirked. "Besides, it wasn't my fault you weren't giving her what she wanted. She kind of liked it dirty, and you just aren't like that, are you? You hopeless romantic. I adapt myself to be what my bae needs. No matter who I have to play. For example, I know Natsu secretly likes dirty talk, don't you?"

Natsu blushed bright red. "I don't."

"You also like it when I'm submissive and moan for you, don't you? Who's the pervert now?" he was funny, his face got even redder. I'd never had such a stubborn bae, it was different. Nice and different.

"Zeref, please stop antagonizing people." Mavis said with a sigh.

"Aw, but it's fun." I pouted a little. "And who doesn't like a little antagonizing, right Jellal?" I threw my arms around him, hoping he would get even angrier. Maybe he'd hit me.

Jellal shoved me off. "Keep you hands to yourself, you slut."

"Aw, you always were mean to me. So rude." I said.

"You really don't want people to help you, do you?" Lucy asked dryly.

"What are you talking about. I think it's amusing when people try to help with things they can't possibly understand."

"Zeref…" Natsu said, a frown on his face. I hated that tone, I always had. I hated the pitying look he gave me. What did he think? That I was going to submit? That I was a victim? I was trying to show him that I wasn't. Sure, I was deathly afraid of Ankhersam, Gods were the only ones in the world that could hurt me, of course I was afraid. And this particular God had a vendetta against me, which was even worse. But it wasn't like I was going to bend to her will. The exact opposite, actually.

"Shut up. Don't you dare say another word." I was lonely, of course, I had always been lonely. But the cure for that was to surround myself with others. I didn't need anything else. The only thing keeping me rooted in place were Mavis' words, and that she would do things the hard way if I didn't accept help. She was someone I never wanted as an enemy. "Are you all going to help me quick so I never have to speak with any of you again?" I spat. "Or are you just going to let me do it on my own."

"No matter what you say, I know you still want help." No I didn't. "So I'm going to help you." Natsu said determinedly.

"If Natsu's helping, so am I." Gray added.

"And Juvia will help Gray-sama!"

"I want to help. Even if I don't believe you are particularly good, I do not think you are a bad person, and I do not think you deserve what she has done to you." Erza said.

"And I will help Erza wherever she goes." Jellal sighed.

"You know I'll always be there for you, Zeref. No matter what." Mavis said. They all turned to Lucy who sighed. I could tell she was trying to keep optimistic and cheerful even if she found it hard in this frustrating situation.

"Alright, I'll help too." She said. "But only because I already said I was."

"Great, then hurry up, idiots." I said, "Here's what you have to do."

* * *

 **A/N Guys, I'm so sorry for missing a week without explanation really, but I was on vacation and just not feeling it, you know? But I have a chapter here and now, so I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading, only a few more chapters left of this thing! Thanks for sticking with it. I'll have another chapter soon, so see you then! Reviews/follows/favs are all appreciated! Goodbye, I'll update soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

I led them along to the center of the park where there were no trees or anything. The pale moonlight shone in the middle, creating an almost luminescent look to them. "Alright. Everyone, we're going into my dimension. My dimension is much different, and, if you loosen your grip on us for even one second, your entire head could pop off, you understand?" they all gave me a solemn nod. "Okay good. Now, hold on tight."

Erza grabbed a tight hold of Jellal, her arms wrapping around his middle. Gray did the same to Juvia and Lucy to Mavis. "Hold on tight, darling. I don't think even you could pull off the headless look." I said teasingly. Natsu scowled at me and grabbed tight.

"Just shut up." He muttered. I didn't respond and grabbed his waist tightly. I wasn't about to let him get beheaded, that was for sure. Most of the teasing at this point, I'm afraid to admit, was just to calm my own nerves. I was terrified about what would happen the moment I entered my dimension. In the human world, a god's power was much more limited, but as soon as I stepped over. A god's influence was much more prominent in my world.

When I opened my eyes, the familiar darkness greeted me. I tightened my grip on Natsu as I hung in the air. This here made Natsu clutch me tight. "Woah, we're flying!" he cried.

"Oh yeah, that's another reason why you want to hold on tight. If you slip you'll be falling forever." Zeref said.

"You could've told us that before!" Lucy said, scowling lightly.

"I forgot." I said plainly. I really had. For me, flying was like walking for humans, I hadn't thought that I might need to warn others about falling.

"Anyway, now that we're here, where do we go."

"We can't go anywhere. Not even demons can enter the realm of the gods. We have to wait for Ankhersam to take an interest in us and come here."

"What! Who knows how long that could take!" Natsu cried. "I've got finals!"

"You can leave whenever you desire. This is partly why I didn't want you to come."

"Well what's the other part?" Gray asked.

"The other part doesn't want us to come because he's a stubborn idiot who thinks he can do everything by himself and will someday end up getting himself killed!" Mavis said, hotly. I shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not." I said "Who can really say?

"I can't believe this is where you live." Erza commented, gazing around. "It's so…"

"Empty?" I suggested.

"Well, yes, but dark is what I was going to say."

"Alright, well, how do we entertain ourselves now?" Natsu asked. "I'm already bored!"

"I could spice things up." I gave him a wicked smirk.

"N-no. Forget I said anything." Natsu waved his hands, blushing red.

"You're so vulgar." Jellal commented. "You're the kind of Incubus that gives us all a bad rep."

"Aw, I'm sorry. I'll try to be a little more accommodating, your highness."

Jellal rolled his eyes and held onto Erza a little tighter, glaring at me. I stuck out my tongue at the stupid jerk and then turned my attention to Natsu. It wasn't my fault Natsu responded to dirty talk. I changed my personality to fit my bae. If there was a serious guy who wanted someone cheerful, I'd be their ray of sunshine. If there was a serious guy who wanted another serious guy, I'd say deep and meaningful things when I actually talked and take it slow. If someone liked it gentle, I could be gentle. If they wanted rough I could do that too. Natsu just so happened to like it when I teased him with sexual innuendos so who was I to deny him?

I sat down on what I supposed was air, but it might as well be solid for me, and pulled Natsu into my lap. "You'd be such a good uke." I whispered.

"Yeah, well so would you."

"I can be whatever I need to be. And as a result I've met a lot of different people."

"Zeref… there's something I need to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever… raped anyone?" I froze. He had to ask. Did he really think I was so low that he had to ask?

"Everything I have ever done is consensual. Humans are pets, but you treat pets nice, don't you? What kind of person would I be to hurt a puppy?" I spat. "Yes, I have had people who want to reenact such scenarios, but it's still consensual… why did you ask?"

"I just… I don't know. It was stupid. I know you wouldn't do something like that but… but I had to ask anyway."

I frowned and had never wanted to kill something so badly. It felt like I needed something in my hand, even an object, just so I could squeeze the life out of it. I wondered if I had truly played my part right, if he needed to ask such a thing. I wondered if I had lied to him too much for him to trust I was a good person. I had wanted to hurt and break many people before, but never like that. "Besides." I said. "I get energy from a human's pleasure, not their pain and fear."

"I see… I guess that's true. But is that the only reason you haven't?"

I snapped. "The hell, Natsu? Just who do you think I am? Do I tease you too much? Do I lie too much, is that's what's making you think about this?"

Natsu took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head slowly. "No, Zeref, I'm sorry. I was just wondering and I guess I didn't think about how the question would make you feel so for that I'm sorry. I guess your teasing's kind of funny, but you're right. You do lie too much, you put up too many fronts. But Zeref, I don't want a front, I don't want you to be what you think I want to see. I want you to be, who you are."

No he didn't. He could never be allowed to see what a mess I was inside. I shook my head, "You only think you want to see it because you don't know what's inside. Believe me, if I opened up to you I guarantee you would run away screaming."

"No joke, huh?"

"I'm dead serious." I said, solemn.

"I figured. People don't just say things like that to be funny but with you I can honestly never tell." Maybe I had made my guise too cheap. Maybe I should've made my character with more depth, but I had thought I'd had enough. I thought that… with all the moments of innocence and with letting him into my real fears I had thought I was giving him enough seriousness. Maybe I had read Natsu wrong and he didn't like any of those teasing guys. Maybe he'd wanted someone serious and sweet, who would dirty talk, but only while in bed. Maybe I had been a little too forward a little too fast. I'd wanted to be bold because I knew Natsu liked bold, but maybe I should've slipped myself into his life, always there until one day he finally noticed me.

"I can change if you want."

"God, Zeref. I don't want you to change I want you to be yourself."

I honestly thought my true personality had been lost years ago, but I couldn't be sure. Maybe it was deep down in there, but I was sure by now it had been classified as another personality to show to someone who was into that kind of thing. Maybe that was the price of my choices. Maybe I was envious of people like Jellal who wouldn't change himself for anybody and found someone who loved him for him.

Maybe, I had been attracted to the bad people who'd wanted me to change myself and maybe it was my fault when they called me ugly or stupid. And maybe it hurt so much because it was true. I knew I wasn't ugly, not on the outside.

My face was a box. A gold box, beautiful and alluring. But what was inside would terrify the bravest of warriors. And I knew I wasn't stupid when it came to pure intellect. But I was naïve. Despite all my experience I was still naïve enough to pick the people that would hurt me, and that's what made me stupid.

"You don't want me to be me. If you saw what was inside you would run away like everyone else."

"I thought you were the leaver…"

"Well I'm not. I lied to you again, just to make myself seem tougher and colder than I actually am. You think I want people to leave, Natsu? You think I want the people I love to die because all they are, are useless humans who get old and die. I wanted to hang on to every last one of them, but they all left me. One way or another."

Natsu turned around in my lap and smiled at me. "I won't leave you Zeref, I promise. I stared and blinked. I smiled lightly then, a smile I didn't show often. A genuine smile. He didn't know that was what they all said, and I didn't feel the need to tell him.

So, I guess all I could do was sit there and not love. "Thank you, Natsu." I said.

"Of course, Zeref. You are important to me, and a friend. That's why I'm here to help you out, so of course I'll always be here with you from now on no matter what. And I promise that from here on out I will never call you ugly or stupid."

"Will you still call me a pervert?" I asked.

"Oh, absolutely. Because you are." Natsu said, smirking with a shrug.

"So mean." I said, though I was more amused than I let on.

"Guys, shh." Mavis whispered. Me and Natsu stopped talking as Mavis closed her eyes and listened attentively. "I hear something."

I closed my eyes and listened and soon I too, heard the noise. Only a faint buzzing sound warned me about what was to happen next. Then, a bright light flashed into existence and I knew only one being in the universe could do something like that. Then, as if on cue a small foot, came through the circle of light, sending a terrifying shiver up my spine.

* * *

 **A/N First of all, I'm sorry it's so short but I wanted to get a chapter out. Second of all, I meant to update yesterday but I totally spaced (I almost did today too, but I managed to remember). My whole updating schedules been thrown off now since last week I updated on Tuesday and this week I updated today when my REAL update day is supposed to be Thursday! It's a little frustrating. At the start of this, I feel like Zeref was way OOC but I've tried kind of pulling elements from cannon back into his personality. I knew, if I wanted this story to go a certain way he definitely couldn't be IC all the time (or any of the time really) because he's much too depressing that way. But since he has so many guises not even I'm sure which is the real one XD I suppose it'd be his cannon personality maybe a little different... but still similar. Also, the final showdown is coming up. It might be next chapter (but that might be just a lead-up, we'll see how long I want to make it) so I don't really know. But I'll definitely try and update next week (on time) so look out! Reviews/favorites/follows motivate me to write better/longer chapters so if you like this I'd really appreciate one of those. Thanks for reading, I'll see you next week. Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

I watched as she stepped from the light, it's glow slowly fading as someone stepped through the opening with her. White hair fluttered in the wind, fanning out around her waist. Dark eyes settled on me soon after entering the vicinity.

And it soon became very clear to me that she was indeed trying to guilt trip me when a very small child toddled out behind her. I bit my lip, staring at them, and my son, clinging to her leg. It was an odd feeling, I'll admit. I had mixed emotions about such a thing as a son.

"What is that?" Jellal asked, wrinkling his nose a bit as he stared at the child.

"It's a kid, obviously." Erza said, frowning.

"I know that, but what is it?"

"What do you mean?" Jellal didn't answer and just kept staring intently at the God and then the child. Ankhersam seemed to say something to the kid before he ran to me and wrapped small arms around my waist, peering up at me like I was some sort of God myself. I clenchd my fists and glanced up at Ankhersam who had an impassive look on her face as she stared right back at me.

"What is the meaning of this?" I asked. "Why did you bring your son here when this is between you and I?"

"Well why did you bring your… friends?" she asked. "And for your information, he's OUR son." She said.

"Well, he's a mistake." I said, glaring at her.

"How can you say that about your own kid?" Lucy asked, narrowing her eyes at me. I didn't answer. "What is wrong with you!"

"No, for once he's right." Jellal said. "That thing is a mistake. It should never have been born."

"Jellal!" Erza cried.

"He's right." Mavis said softly. "That child is half God, half Incubus. An impossible, dangerous combination. He should never have been created into this world. Gods and Incubus are not born, they have simply always been."

"The responsible thing to have done was kill it as soon as she found out it was living inside her." Jellal said.

"It's true." Mavis said sadly.

"How can you two say that!" Lucy cried.

"Because it's the truth!" Jellal said harshly.

"I couldn't do it." Ankhersam said. "We can talk once you've had a helpless, living, breathing thing living inside you for nine months and then going through the most painful thing in your life just to give this helpless thing breath!"

"I don't have to have that happen to know what I would do. I'd kill it." Jellal said.

"Jellal." Erza said sweetly. He froze and turned to look at her. "Shut up." And he fell silent.

"Alright I get it, boohoo you gave birth. Why did you curse Zeref then if you're happy with your kid and the sex!" Natsu demanded.

"I'm not angry with him because we had sex. In fact, that was rather enjoyable." She said a small smirk n her face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. "What I'm angry about is that he left me to care for Larcade all by myself!" she shouted. "What I'm angry about is that he won't teach this kid how to deal with his Incubus side!"

"Is that any reason to curse him?" Natsu asked.

"Yes!" Ankhersam said. "You try raising a kid all by yourself and then we'll talk."

"Yeah, well we've come to ask you to please lift the curse." Lucy said.

"Yeah we've also come here to say you're a jerk." I could tell he had a few other synonyms he'd rather use, but couldn't since there was some young, impressionable kid in the area. I could understand. I didn't exactly want him to grow up cursing like a sailor. And yes, I'd actually met a few. Nasty vocabulary.

"You're not exactly endearing yourselves to me." Ankhersam said curtly, though her eyes didn't even drift towards anyone else but me.

I licked my lips to get some moisture back since her stare made my mouth go dry. "What… what do you want me to do?" I asked. "What do I have to do in order for you to lift this curse you've placed upon me?"

An almost sinister smile crossed her face as she heard this. "I thought you'd never ask." Her voice, sickly sweet and happy. Now I remembered why I broke up with her in the first place.

"I have a bad feeling." Natsu muttered. I grasped him tighter, whether to bring myself some relief or to shut him up I couldn't remember because her next words made my heart stop.

Now, I suppose it wasn't as bad as all that, however, it certainly seemed like the world was ending to me when I heard such a commitment come from her mouth. I'd rather dig myself a hole, crawl in, and die, rather than do what she wanted.

"I want you to take this brat off my hands, and raise him. Now, I'm a God, I'm very busy. You, on the other hand, the only thing you ever do is run off and have sex with random strangers off the street. I'm sure you can find time in your schedule to look after him." she made it sound so simple, even though I and everyone else here knew that wasn't the case. Taking care of a kid was a huge commitment and I didn't even want a significant other, much less a son!

"You… you can't be serious."

"Oh, I am."

I didn't even know his name and she expected me to… what? Be a father to him? "You've got to be joking." I said.

"You already asked that, and no, I am not joking." She said. "Take him now and I will lift the curse. Refuse and your next punishment shall be something harsher."

She certainly knew how to get under my skin. She certainly knew how to take what would seem like the simplest thing to some people and make it as hard as possible for me.

I stayed silent for several moments, but inside, my mind was already made up. I didn't have a choice did I? I was tired of living this way, not able to connect with anybody romantically like I was supposed to and treat all of them as either objects or friends. And in the end, it was much harder to fall in love with an object rather than a friend, which was why I had so few of those.

"So, will you accept my offer."

Natsu was staring at me intently, almost like he was searching for something. I didn't know what he wanted or expected to see and I didn't know if anyone else was looking either so I kept my expression carefully neutral as I stared into that woman's beady black eyes. Yes, the sex had been great, but now I completely regretted it. I never should've messed with something bigger than me. But there was nothing I could do about that now.

"Yes." I said quietly. "Yes, I will accept your offer."

* * *

 **A/N I am so, so, so, soooo sorry! First for not updating and second for this chapter being so short, but I wanted to get something out here. I was honestly starting to forget about this story to the point I wasn't going to update until... July or even longer!**

 **And so, I want to thank Ren the Pegasus for reviewing and make me want to update because they really enjoyed the story. Ren the Pegasus I'm glad you're liking this work, and I'm sorry about the other stories that stopped updating as I can relate to that. I actually used to lurk around on here too before getting an account and I remember feeling so sad a story stopped updating, no matter what the reason. But I just wanted to thank you for your review I'm a bit embarrassed to admit before your review I had a grand total of two short paragraphs done for this chapter.**

 **I waited till Thursday to update since that's my regular update day. Now, things have been super busy and so I've basically only been writing one shots when a tiny ray of inspiration hits so I haven't been thinking too much about my ongoing chapter books... (like this one). The next update might be next week but it might not be until this summer, sometime in June. I'm getting some momentum and this story is ALMOST finished. It's got like... two or three chapters left! And that's basically wrapping everything up. So, I'm going to shoot for updating next week but if it doesn't happen well... I'm sorry in advance. Thank you to everyone still here, and still reading even though I kind of dropped this without any warning. Reviews and favorites and stuff really do encourage me to update and well... they make me remember this story is still here because I check my email like... every few minutes sometimes. But thanks for reading, feedback is appreciated, and I'll (very hopefully) see you next week! Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11

When we stepped back onto Earth soil, Larcade's small hand grasping mine I felt an odd sort of emptiness inside. I wasn't sure what to think of this, and because of that, I wasn't sure if I should be happy or not. On the one hand, I was free of my curse, on the other, I had some brat to take care of now. I'd never exactly been good with children. They always sensed something off about me and kept their distance because of it. Larcade didn't seem to have a problem with me, but that didn't mean I didn't have a problem with him. He was the offspring of that devil of a woman. The first woman I'd ever despised with my entire being.

What I found odd was that Larcade hadn't spoken this entire time. And he seemed to have no qualms about getting taken away from his mother, as long as it was with me. I already knew that was odd. I wondered if something was wrong with him. "Hey kid, can you talk." Natsu asked, bending down to the child's level. Larcade didn't answer him and only hid behind me. "I'm not sure he can talk, Zeref."

"Larcade, how old are you?" Larcade only shook his head and buried his face in my leg, refusing to speak. I shrugged and turned back to Natsu. "Maybe he can't speak." I said.

"I would find that kind of concerning. He looks like he's four years old already. He should've started talking at least babble around 1 to 2 years old."

"1 or 2?" I furrowed my eyebrows, confusion muddling my thoughts. "You mean… 1 or 2 centuries, yes?"

"Ah… no?"

"We have a different aging system than you humans do." Jellal said. "It's rare for two of our kind to have a child together, but not unheard of. And it's not unheard of for a human to bear our children either, though the process usually kills them. What is unheard of and completely forbidden, is a demon/god child. So really, we have no idea how they're aging system works, since there aren't any… until now." He sent a small glare at Larcade who shrunk back under his gaze.

"Jellal, stop blaming him! He can't help that he was born!" Erza said, promptly smacking the Incubus on the side of his head.

"You do realize that doesn't actually hurt me because…" he trailed off at the look of death Erza was giving him. "… never mind." He said quietly after a pause.

"Okay, well what are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to have to take care of him." Zeref said quietly. "That's just the way it has to be now." They all glanced at each other and nodded.

"That's true." Erza said quietly. "If you ever need help, you can ask. Me and Jellal would be happy to help." Jellal opened his mouth to protest but then seemed to think better of it.

"Yeah, we'd be happy to help." Lucy said. As Zeref stared at her, he thought he might understand what Natsu saw in the human woman. Despite the fact that he was much more attractive, she was beautiful on the inside and out. And she was offering to help him out of her own free will, even after he had caused her breakup with Natsu.

"Well, now that all of that's settled. Jellal, we're going and you're going to explain why you weren't open with me about who you are!"

"I already told you I thought you'd think me crazy!"

Erza sighed. "Yes, but if you'd shown me proof like flying or something I would've believed it!"

"I'm not sure you would've. You were always so practical, Erza."

"Jellal, I'm practical, but it's not like I'm unwilling to listen or see the facts in front of me!"

"I… I was just afraid you wouldn't want me if you knew. After all, we kind of have a bad name that Incubus like him," Jellal glared at me, "give us."

"Jellal, I love you. Something silly like that wouldn't stop me." Jellal was silent.

"You're sure?"

"Yes!" she cried. "Yes, yes, yes, I'm sure! Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now having this conversation, would I?"

I had thought they were going to walk off to talk about it, but apparently they'd forgotten about that. Maybe they'd forgotten they had an audience too when they kissed.

"Woah, okay, children here." I said, gesturing to Larcade.

"As if you ever cared about keeping a child's innocence." Jellal said, pulling back.

"Ugh, he's right." Erza said. "But I wouldn't mind going home and doing more." She gently ran her fingers through his hair.

"O… okay." Jellal flushed red at the look she was giving him and tugged at his collar a bit.

"Ha, ha, you're hopeless." I taunted. He glared at me, cheeks still flushed.

"Shut up, Zeref." He grumbled. I giggled a little as Erza dragged him away by the hand before he could start another argument with me, so boring.

"Yeah, well, my parents are probably worried sick, so I should get back."

"Juvia will accompany you!"

"Fine." Gray muttered and Juvia latched onto his hand. Natsu seemed a bit surprised that Gray didn't flinch away when she did.

"Wow, he flinches sometimes even when I touch him." Natsu whispered to me.

I nodded. "We have a calming effect. That's why he let me touch him back at the church without flinching."

"I see." Natsu turned and was about to tell me something when Lucy came up to him.

"Natsu." Startled he turned to face her.

"Yeah Luce? What is it." Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Listen I… I really liked you, you know." She said.

"I really liked you too, Lucy… but… I'm obviously not strong enough to resist someone else, and I can't do that to you. If I truly loved you with all my heart I wouldn't even look at him that way… but I do." my ears perked up when hearing this.

"I know." Lucy said. She knew? How did she know, but I didn't! Lucy stood on tip-toe and kissed Natsu on the cheek. "I still hope we can be friends though." Natsu paused and then a slow grin spread across his face.

"Yep, definitely!" he said. Lucy smiled too and took a step back, though unlike Natsu I could see the sadness in her expression. It made my heart twinge a little with… what was it? Guilt? That seemed impossible. I couldn't believe it. I'd never felt guilt before and now here I was… feeling it… for some human girl who was just too pathetic to keep her boyfriend. But no, that didn't feel right. I was the pathetic one… for steeling him in the first place.

"I'll see you later Natsu." She said and slowly walked away. I watched her do so, feeling Mavis come up and wrap her arms around me, exclaiming how she was so happy. I could only think about where Lucy and Natsu's relationship would've gone if I had never stepped into the picture. If I hadn't, then it would be very likely that… that they would've gotten married and had a kid or something.

"I'm so happy for you!" Mavis exclaimed. "You can finally get into a real romantic relationship just like the rest of us!" she was crying she was so happy. I turned and nodded.

"Yep, I'm happy too. Though don't expect me to change just because I've had my curse lifted, alright?"

"No, I wouldn't expect you to change for the world! You've always been the same Zeref, adapting your personality as you see fit! But I miss the old you… the very old you, that was stoic and not so quick to smile, but when you did it would light up the dark void. I miss those smiles."

I hadn't thought my expressions changed as well, but maybe I did have different smiles. At this point, it was hard for me to know. "I'm sorry I did that… but this is who I am now."

"And I definitely accept it! You're my best friend in the whole wide world! I'd accept you no matter what!" I was lucky to have a friend like Mavis, so pure despite the dark world we lived in. I smiled at her and she gasped and her tears returned. "Just like that…" she whispered. "Please keep smiling, just like that. Your happy smile."

"I will…" Mavis slowly pulled back and gazed up at me, her big green eyes watery and a little red from tears, but still she was just as beautiful as she was earlier. "I'm so glad you've found someone to love."

"Me too." I turned and gazed at Natsu, who was busy entertaining Larcade by playing some sort of human game with him. It seemed to amuse the child despite how boring it looked to me. "I'm very glad."

"Treat him well, Zeref. No two humans are ever the same, so believe me when I say you'll never find another like him."

"I know, I know." I said, waving my hand. "Now leave us, so I can actually confess my feelings." Mavis gave me a knowing smile and giggled softly.

"Alright, alright, fine. But you better tell me all the details later!"

"I'm not a teenage girl."

"You act like one, and that's close enough for me!" she cried happily and disappeared before I could correct her. I sighed and turned to Natsu, walking up to him.

"Oh, Zeref!" He cried when I got close. "Are you done saying goodbye to Mavis? Larcade looks like he wants to go home." The child did indeed look very tired with his slightly red eyes, accompanied by a yawn every once and a while.

"Yes, I'm ready to go home." I said. Natsu nodded and picked Larcade up, telling him that they were all going home now. I followed Natsu toward the house. As we drew closer I never realized how charming it was, but now, I could see it in every groove.

"Is this how you feel every time you return home?" I asked.

"Um… no, I don't usually cry when I get home." Natsu said, laughing a little.

"Oh…"

"But I understand the feeling of happiness you get when you're able to go home." He added. I nodded. Natsu opened the front door and ushered Larcade inside before closing it.

Upon entry Larcade started running around the house, up the stairs, everywhere. Natsu smiled, "He's cute. We should definitely keep him."

"I don't think we have a choice." I said, though I was starting to grow a bit fond of the tiny midget. I turned to look at Natsu who, in a sudden display of forwardness, crashed his lips onto mine.

A surprised cry escaped my lips as I fell to the floor. Natsu gently coaxed my mouth open with his lips and I couldn't help but relax in his hold, snaking my arms up his waist. I heard a tiny groan escape him as I buried my fingers in his hair, wrapping my legs around his middle. "I love you." I mumbled against him.

He nodded, and I was a bit disappointed he didn't say the words back, but I suppose it took time for humans to say such things. I felt his hands on the band of my jeans as he started undoing the button and zipper, sliding them off. "Dada?"

Natsu practically jumped off me and we both turned to the little boy on the stairs looking very confused. I panted a little and quickly wiped my mouth, zipping up my pants and standing up. "Y-yes?" I asked.

"You spoke!" Natsu cried and swept the giggling child up in his arms. "I'm so proud of you!" I smiled at the two of them and slowly came over as well, kissing my apparent son on the head. Okay, so he was adorable, that didn't mean I wasn't getting rid of him as soon as I could… "You're so cute! Oh yes you are, yes you are!"

Okay, if he made Natsu happy, I suppose he could stay… Natsu looked up and smiled at me, pressing his mouth to mine in a quick kiss. That was the second time today. Maybe he was ill. Natsu ran up the stairs, the little boy still in his arms. "Let's get you ready for bed." Natsu said, grinning.

* * *

I walked up the stairs, Zeref's son in my arms. He really was cute, and I'd always been a kids person. I was a bit embarrassed about how I'd just come on to Zeref like that, but he'd looked so happy, and I'd been so happy, that I couldn't help but kiss him. I didn't know if I was disappointed or relieved that Larcade had come down the stairs when he did but I found myself going with the latter, which made me even more embarrassed.

I tucked Larcade into bed and slowly backed out when I heard light snores almost instantly emanate from him. I backed out and slowly closed the door until it was only opened a crack before turning around and bumping into Zeref. "Sorry." We both said at the same time. There was a pause and then he laughed so I laughed too and we smiled at each other for a little while.

"Um… goodnight." I said quietly. He leaned in close pressing me to the wall and I met his lips with a light peck before ducking under his arm and retreating to my room. I heard a sigh, no doubt he'd wanted more, before I closed my door and giggled a little to myself. We were going to have a lot more fun eventually, the devil and me. I just knew it.

* * *

 **A/N Thanks for reading this story and thank you those who've stayed with me. And thank you Mavis (Guest) for your lovely review, it made me very happy! And thank you everyone else who supported this story. I hope this is to your liking (I knew I wanted some last minute kisses in before the end of this, so I put those in to satisfy you!).**


	12. Epilogue

"Zeref, how could you let Larcade out on a date! He's only eleven!" I cried exasperatedly, staring at my husband.

"He's with Erza and Jellal's daughter, you know he's in good hands."

"And I also know that the said daughter's father is going to KILL our son, and us too!" I said, shaking my head. "There's something seriously wrong with your head. Also, how is this taking care of him?"

"You have your parenting ways, and I have mine. I was dating and having sex since… well… always." Zeref shrugged good-naturedly. "Plus, if he's gone, that means we can have a little… fun." Zeref said. I saw the glint in his eye and immediately frowned. He wrapped his arms around my waist, giggling as I squirmed to free myself.

"NO! None of that right now! We are talking about your horrible choice to let our son go on a date so young! He hardly has any sense of identity, he's way too young for this!"

"He's not five any more. He's almost a teenager, we've got to let the kid live a little."

"A little, yeah, but not this much! Oh, I knew it was a terrible idea to let you be in charge!" I shook my head, thinking of all the horrible things that could not only happen to Larcade, but also to Jellal and Erza's little girl, Rosemary. What if they got themselves hurt? They were only kids, and I doubted that Jellal and Erza even knew their daughter was gone. She had made a horrible habit of sneaking out recently, no matter what they did, and Erza had been complaining about it to me, while our husbands stalked along after us, Jellal sneaking a subtle glare in Zeref's direction every once in a while.

"Hey, I know you're worried right now, but you really have nothing to worry about." Zeref assured me. "We can go look for them now if you really want." He conceded softly.

"I do." I said. "I'm really worried, they could get run over by a car or something!"

"You are talking about them like they're ordinary human children, which they're not. They're both powerful in their own way. If they weren't, then I don't think our kind would've been around for so long."

"I know, but we humans aren't exactly bulletproof and we're still here too, so being alive really isn't that much of an accomplishment." I shouted, a bit harsher than I meant to be. Zeref took it in stride and smiled a little bit.

"I know you're worried, I'm only saying they're not human, not that they're bulletproof. We'll find them, don't worry." Zeref told me. I calmed down a little and sighed.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry for shouting." I said after a moment of hesitation. Zeref had grown out of his flirtatious ways for the most part, and had learned to hold his tongue at the mention of sex around Larcade, though we supposed the boy would have to learn about it soon. I wanted to keep him innocent for a little bit longer, but Zeref was all for telling him, claiming that after we told him, he could start his "lessons" which honestly freaked me out a bit. He was only eleven for God's sake!

I wanted to keep him safe, and I didn't really want him to find out about his origins either, even though Zeref insisted we tell him soon. I suppose, in that way he was more grownup and mature than I was. He was willing to tell Larcade the hard truths, even when I was worried that they would hurt him. I suppose what I understood reluctantly, was that it would always hurt him, no matter what age he was, but it would hurt him more if we kept it from him for too long. I didn't want to tell him that he was basically a mistake that never should've happened. And I didn't want to tell him that his mother hadn't wanted him. But most of all, I didn't want him to know that I wasn't his real parent. I suspected he knew that me and Zeref couldn't have children together because we were both guys, but… he would've at least thought I was his adoptive parent. For me to not be even that, was hard for me to accept.

"Zeref I… I did want to talk to you about something first."

"What is it, Love?"

"I… I want to talk to you about when we tell Larcade."

"About sex?"

"About where he came from."

"Oh… I can tell him, if you want."

"I do want you to tell him." I said softly. "You're his real parent, after all."

Zeref's gaze softened, like it had started doing a lot more. "If that's all you're worried about, then there's no reason to get yourself worked up. I want us to tell him together, and I want to be clear that even if you're not his birth parent, you're more a parent than that witch ever was."

"She took care of him, she gave birth, she cared…" I said, though the words tumbling out of my mouth sounded empty, even to my own ears.

"Maybe she did." Zeref said. "But she was never there for him. "She shipped him onto us, she's never come back, and she never will. That's not love. She' didn't care, she abandoned him, she didn't want him."

"Neither did you…" I said softly. We both knew it was true, though the words hurt to say.

"I know." Zeref said. "And I was wrong. I shouldn't have said those things, and I shouldn't have only kept him around for my own selfish benefit. But you have to know, that somewhere along the way I began to love that kid as much as you did." Zeref said passionately.

"I know you love him. I'm only saying that we can't say she didn't care. She hardly knew him."

"And she didn't want to know him."

"Neither did you."

"Of course not, he was a stranger. I was never there to hold him after he was born. I felt like some random kid was coming in to mess up my life. And it's not like I'm a woman, and it's not like I have some motherly instinct. But I DID stay, and so did you." Zeref said. "This isn't about to become an argument of who's the better parent."

"No, I didn't mean that you're a bad parent, I just—!"

"Especially when it's not really an argument to begin with. Everyone knows you're the best parent of the three of us." Zeref said, bringing his hand up to gently caress my cheek.

"No, you're a great parent, Zeref."

"Don't lie to me." Zeref snorted, smirking. "I just let him go out on a date at eleven, remember?" I cringed when he said that, because the words "eleven" and "date" didn't belong in the same sentence unless it was, "he's not going on a date because he's eleven".

"Yeah, you did, didn't you?" I said, smiling slightly.

"Mhm, so don't worry. He never knew his mother, he won't want her."

"That's another thing I'm afraid of." I whispered quietly. "I don't want to tell him because I'm afraid… if he finds out I'm not his real mother, he'll leave me." I said, feeling small tears come to the corners of my eyes. "And I'm scared he won't come back!"

"He will. You have to understand he might want to find his birth mother, and you should be supportive. He might have to know. However, once he finally meets her, he'll be calling, begging to leave the spiteful wench!" Zeref said.

"You shouldn't say things like that about his mother…"

"Yeah I should! Thank God he turned out just like me!"

"Oh, Heaven FORBID that ever happen."

Zeref paused, giving a fake look of hurt before smirking. "You're right, thank the gods he got your personality."

"Yeah, but he got your looks." I said.

"Well, better mine than HERS… but, he would've been more beautiful if he'd somehow gotten your looks."

I smiled at that and gently pressed my lips to his. "Thank you." I said.

"Of course." He said.

"Now come on, let's go find him."

"Alright, alright, but he's probably fine."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry." I said, grabbing my car keys. "Come on."

Driving around, looking for two kids wasn't exactly the most fun thing we'd ever done, but it was more bearable when I was with Zeref. "Are you happy with how your life turned out?" he asked finally, breaking the silence. I could see him looking at me from my peripheral vision.

Thinking back, it hadn't been the easiest life, but if it had been then it would've been rather boring. I had a husband, and a kid, and I had learned to love them more than I had loved any other human. "You're not… you don't think about what things could've been like if you'd gone with Lucy."

"I do think about that. But I keep realizing again and again that if I'd married her, I don't think I'd be nearly as happy as I am now. Lucy's a nice girl, she's a great friend. And if I had married her, I don't think I'd have been unhappy. But I also don't think our relationship could've lasted. Not even if you'd never come along'. And it definitely wouldn't have lasted after. I found something better, something I realized that I loved. I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Glad we're that important."

"Of course." I really wouldn't trade it for the world, even if that was incredibly selfish.

There was silence for a few minutes before Zeref finally pointed out the window. "Look there! I see them."

I pulled into the parking lot of the park and watched as Zeref crawled out of the driver's seat. "Hey kids, we should go home now!" Zeref called.

"Aw, but you said we could stay as long as you want."

"Your mother's not as fun as me."

"Don't tell him that!" I cried, climbing out of the car too.

"But it's true… are you telling me to… lie, to our child?" Zeref asked dramatically.

"Well y—no!" I shouted. "I'm not saying that at all!"

The last thing I heard before I had to focus all my attention on yelling was, "Your mom and dad fight a lot."

And, "Yeah, I think that's how they care…"

Nope, I wouldn't trade them for the world, even if they made me want to smash my head against a rock sometimes.

The End.

* * *

 **A/N This is the LAST chapter. This shall never be updated again! And while I am kind of sad to see it go, I'm also massively relieved because I can start some new projects. Recently I've been into the MHA (My Hero Acadamia) fandom, so you can expect to see some fics about that. My most recent is "Human" which I have also updated today. However, while I have been diving deeper into other fandoms I do still plan to update Fairytail stories. I think I'm going to do... my SAO/Fairytail crossover next. If you want a summary for it, I have it in my profile under "Stories I want to Make". This one won't update for a while, however, as I plan for it to be about as long as this one if not longer. So in the meantime, expect a lot of random oneshots and short stories! An example of about how long the short stories will be, check out "Hell and Paradise". I can't remember how long exactly that one is, but if you just look at the word count that's about how long the short stories will be.**

 **Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you guys for your lovely reviews, I find it rather amusing that I've only gotten Guest Reviews on this story. Ren, thank you for your reviews and telling me your enjoyment of this story, it was very helpful to know someone was waiting. Thank you Mavis for your support on this story, and on a few others, I really appreciate it. Thank you Joe Whiteburg, for your review, I'm glad you enjoyed this. And thank you all other unnamed Guests, you make this story possible. I'm not sure I would've gotten through this story without knowing someone actually wanted to read it and knowing that most of the clicks on my story weren't just "accidental clicks and they were really aiming for the story below mine..."**

 **Anyway, I don't think I'll do another Zeref x Natsu for a while, as I really do love their brotherly relationship and I feel I write them better that way. Regardless, I think I will update one at some point in the future, but not for a long time yet. Thank you so much for reading, I will hopefully see you again in other stories and I hope I can continue to create stories for you to enjoy. Thanks again, I'll see you soon, BYE!**

 **Edit: Dear Mavis (Guest) I'm happy you liked the story enough to read it twice, especially so soon after it's completion (has it been long? It feels like I finished it yesterday) anyway, I never thought this little story would be good enough for a first read let alone a second, but knowing that it was to someone is highly encouraging. If your read this and want to read my response to not having updated a lot of Fairy Tail Stories, head to the bottom of my profile page.**


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